Full text of "Personal Computer World (2009-03)(VNU Business Publications)(GB)"

See other formats

Paragon Drive Backup 9 SE • Paragon Drive Copy 9 SE • 3 full Linux distros

Personal

DUAL-LAYER

A t ■ wl WWi IM ■ EDITION

Computer

THE EXPERT'S CHOICE SIHCE 1978

World

Rescue

your files

-How to easily recover all
your deleted documents

• Restore hard disks, CDs
DVDs & memory cards

RESCUE &

BACKUP TOOLS

ON THE DVD!

Video-editing software group test

We review six of the best tools for making stunning movies - from only £53

£4.99

Blu-ray burners

Bring your PC
into the 21 st
century for
less than £150

Better battery life

Your ultimate
hands-on guide to
Windows power
management

Netbook know-how

Discover the
best upgrades,
add-ons and
expert tips

ZfO

DELL" RECOMMENDS WINDOWS VISTA® HOME PREMIUM.

Big new year savings
are already at dell.co.uk

(Browse and buy anytime, hassle free)

Does it get any better? Get money off the laptop or desktop you've chosen
right now - dell.co.uk is open 24/7 every day. So, no jostling with crowds, no
queueing, no struggling home with a bulky purchase - and there's no charge
for delivery to your door.

studio 15

Designed to entertain you on the move.
A superb all-rounder for viewing all those
festive photos you took, relaxing with a DVD
as well as keeping on top of all your tasks.

• Intel* Core™2 Duo Processor P8400

■ Genuine Windows Vista' 1 Home Premium

■ 3072MB Memory £ 320GB Hard Drive

■ 15.4" WXGA True-Life™ Screen

■ 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3450 graphics

• Intel* 5100 Wireless Card and 2.0MP Webcam

Price Incl. Savings', VAT & Delivery

Add your choice of 6 plain colours for ££9

Hip New York artist Mike Ming has created
a range of covers for the Studio 15 for just
E69. Get the gen at dell.co.uk/art.

Choose any of the (PRODUCT) RED™

featured artists' design for £69 and a part
of the proceeds will go to the Global Fund
to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. For more
information, visit dell.co.uk/joinred.

ENHANCE YOUR DELL WITH
CO-ORDINATING ACCESSORIES

Once you've selected your laptop cover colour, why
not complete the picture with a matching carry case,
wireless mouse or even an external hard drive?
Visit www.dell.co.uk/accessories

DESIGNED
FOR

Unsurpassed mobile computing performance

Intel's NEWEST and BEST performing Intel® Centrino* 2 processor technology delivers amazing
performance and breakthrough energy efficiency. To find out more please visit www.intel.com/consumer

McAfee"* ■ PROTECT WHAT YOU VALUE "tin MiKled systems. Otfen valid FrcrT rjfcVtfl and due"o era: 2l/G1r'?K!9 '0c iw?ry date rclifieJL-pcn sreer contir major, k rcinaled. Dc-iverj" Defcrethrislmasis NOT guaranteed, il orders are placed by credit

« d-ebic card wEn Dell on or uefce :he S'i Deserter, delivery wi'l te made as socr as MssiaTe after yci/ c-ter n accepted (usually wiclun KJ working days of ycur order being accepted), ffe will endeavor to
deliver gauds art Or p-Slote the^EII Itecenibm. rjniK.oiiiJivilHl ve i y limes or Pe-ll prfldutfi are Subjpt! '.a nvdild^l iy ci" Syslflms ;:- canponRMx. anil ;Md T I' AeV.v avails iJi:y. pres =ht! -Fn^cLI ; hMdhs rH c::-iec1 at dalpol puhlkdiinn^iid may i.\mt)tf. wilhoul iw1 ire. Tern ft
i.U conditions of Sales, Service and finance apply .irvd are available on request or at wnttMi. >:z.-A Delivery charge s, E2Q incl. Ml per sysiem Unless al.ler>f,se stated). tonsLiFiers, are er.titfed » c^wel orcers within t working cays, neqinniryj the day after ine date of
delivery: Dell collection cbarge £57.53 incl. VAT. One GB = I billion bytes attual capacity varies vitlh preloaded material ard cperaling ervlronmert and will be ess SeMospi^i Sltidia ami KPS laptops aid desktops include Micrasoll Works 6.5 as standard unless. otherwise

oetL

YOURS IS HERE

Studio 540

Traditional tower given a fresh new look with a
glossy black finish. Upgrade your entertainment
experience with optional Blu-ray™.

■ Intel'" Core ,M 2 Duo E7300

'Genuine Windows Vtsta'- HDme Premium

• 2048MB SDRAM Memory and 320GB Hard Drive

■ Monitor not included

• 256MB All Mobility Radeon"* HD 3450 graphics

• Integrated 7.1 Sound on Board

• 15-in-1 Media Card Reader

Price incl. Savings'. VAT S Delivery

INSPIRON H 1525

Cool. Colourful. Connected. Everything you
need for productivity and entertainment in
a versatile and stylish starter laptop.

■ Intel'" Core'"2 Duo Processor 15800

• Genuine Windows Vista"' Home Premium

• 204SMB Memory and 250GB Hard Drive

• 15.4" WXGA Screen with I rue-Life™

• Dell 1395 Wireless Card

Other colours avaiable for just £29

Price Incl. Savings'. VAT & Delivery

Yours is so easy to shop for at Dell

INSPIRON 530

Powerful processors, huge hard drive and massive
memory. It's also scafeahle to run your favourite
software and work with all your plug-in gadgets.

■ Intel 1 ' Pentium' Dual- Core Processor E2200

• Genuine Windows Vista'' Home Premium

■ 1024MB Memory and I60GB Hard Drive

■ 19" Wide Flat Panel Monitor S1909WN

• 19-in-I Media Card Reader

Price Incl. Savings', VAT & Delivery

O Click: DELL.CO.UK/DEALS 6) Call: 0844 444 3033

£ • ..- fln_ "I-.- I ,-i.. , Him it ii ii l-il ijn ' Mil II >i i.f «it- i-

Sam-9um Weekdays, 9am -6pm Saturdays. Iuam-5prn Sundays

speciffei Promotional afters apply la maximum order si^e of 5 "syiit-oms. (Saving s difference between orice ol J ca:jrcc sy^enis when so'ifas a package versus current sianrtapd cnt : re sates slices lor the bask systems wltti
trie promotional components upgraded individually. Phce correct at Ernie of prh:. Celeron. Ce arcl msJCE. Centr ra. Certrha n»ide, Core Irs it, trter. JnEe Logo, Intel Von. :ntBl Atom trsJe. trtel Care. h:el Inside, Intel Inside
Large. Intel lriiv, Intel VPfO. Ionium, ItdniuinlnrBtic Penliuin, s B*i1iurniruij3. V:iv Inside v^ra Jn^idp, Hpor, didfoan nate .yv ludenaths ::1 ln - el LDr.inrdlian it IhH L)!i rint: al hp r ca juLf iin Mur.i d 1 ,:: 1 1 Win:Eum^. WiiiijEira VisU
arm the Viindows VhtJ lorjo are tradem-jrta or r&qiitertd trademark of VKrosof": Eo'p-j'a: :p in 'Tie Jr ted Spates Jid/of stter tot,ruiet :$i disc niri praprie'ary interest p the traeerarks or trace n*rws ol otter entities
used to refer to them or their products. Deli Corporal ion Ltd., DeH Mouse, The fciij'evard, Cain Road. Brachial, Bc-'kswe, JKI2 ll.F

^^ i March 2009 M

Contents

For daily news updates,
reviews and downloads

www.pcw.co.uk

REGULARS

7 Editorial

159 Competition

160 Contact us & PCW on the web

161 In the next issue

162 Flashback

INTERACTIVE

20 Letters

25 Cordon Laing - Inside information

26 Barry Fox - Straight talking

28 Guy Kewney - Kewney @ large

NEWS

Windows 7 lifts CES gloom
End of the line for adapters?
High-def 3D TV 'not far off'

Neo fills thin portables gap
Virgin starts 50Mbit rollout
Home data standard mooted
Police can hack into your PC
Zune leaps into Y2K trouble
Get Flashy with tech manuals

GROUP TESTS

89 Video-editing software

We review six of the best tools for
making stunning movies - from
only £53

100 Blu-ray burners

Bring your PC into the 21st century for
less than f 150

Great free software

Powerful but simple
disk protection; an
easy way to ensure
\^m your PC privacy
is upheld; all you
need to burn
CDs and DVDs;
keep up to three
PCs protected
against viruses;
backup and
restore data

COVER FEATURE

31 RESCUE YOUR FILES

How to easily recover all your deleted documents
from hard disks, CDs, DVDs & memory cards

FEATURES

31 Rescue your files

Recover all your deleted documents

40 Netbook know-how

Find the best upgrades and add-ons

45 Windows 7 preview

A sneak peek at the next version of
Microsoft's operating system

51 Better battery life

Inside Windows power management

Make effective use of your PC's
power management features

www.pcw.co.uk Man

GROUP TEST

89 VIDEO-EDITING
SOFTWARE

Six of the best tools for making
stunning movies, from only £53

GROUP TEST

100BLU-RAY
BURNERS

Bring your PC into the
21st century for less
than £150

EVIEWS

Contents

Software

Tune Up Utilities 2009

Hardware

Norton Antivirus 2009

Rock Xtreme XSL8-9550

Serif Digital Photo Suite 2009

Acer Aspire 6935G-844G32Bn

Magix Musicmaker 1 5

Sony VaioVGC-JS1E/S

Camtasia Studio 6

Lenovo Thinkpad SL400
Asus N80Vc

Games

Grand Theft Auto IV

Peripherals

Far Cry 2

Lenovo Thinkpad USB Portable
Secure Hard Drive

PC Essentials

AMD Phenom II

Our pick of the latest

Nokia N85

components and accessories

Truecall call screener

Humax Foxsat-HDR
Ricoh R10

How we test

Sling Media Sling Catcher
Western Digital WDTV

Best Buys

liyama Pro Lite E2208HDS

Nokia's
N85 has

u9 • \\

a very
good
screen -

f 1

see
page 65

I I \"

"*^~* ; " ^

£^1' 'Jl.

^^^5^^^^^^

BUSINESS

109 Contents

110 Linux, ready for
business

The best way to go to open-source

Reviews

112 Lexmark X7675

113 Lacie 5big Network

114 Kerio Mail Server 6.6

115 Infocus IN5102

116 Double -Take Live wire

HANDS ON

119 Contents

120 Question time

Your questions answered by our experts

124 Hardware

Find the right kind of Raid for you by
testing different configurations

126 Performance

Grab video from unprotected sources

128 Windows

Stop Microsoft's Intellipoint mouse
software from using too much memory

138 Linux/Unix

Understand how Unix's disk handling

differs from Windows' method

140 Digital imaging & video

When memory cards fail

142 Word processing

The latest version of Open Office

144 Spreadsheets

Spice up spreadsheets with graphs

146 Sound

How to avoid the annoying quirks of
Windows Media Player 1 1

148 Networks

Synchronise files that need to be kept
on more that one PC

150 Databases

Up sizing Visual Basic code and
manipulating SQL Server via Access

152 Visual programming

How Siiverlight and Live Mesh arc
blurring the web/desktop boundaries

•' www.pcw.co.uk

Life's moments

Captured in a snap, lost in a second

i^ Acronis

IDMMJTI Willi CO Nil DEUCE
WWW KtDHI J,CO. JK

Time's precious and you can't rewind the clock. As we become more engulfed in today's digital world, a lifetime of photos,
music, videos, emails and documents are saved on our laptops and PCs,

Acronis True Image Home 2009 is a backup and recovery software solution which protects your photos, music and other
files, plus your applications and even your operating system, so that recovering lost files or your entire PC becomes a breeze.
Acronis can help you to protect your important files from computer viruses, disasters or hard drive failure.

Special features include:

Backup of files and full system for quick one step recovery (Disk imaging)

Easily recover an entire PC of files by pressing F11 without the need for recovery CDs

New! One-click'" protection automates backups to occur automatically or with just one click

New! Set & Forget backups: Configure once and perform backups automatically

Backup to different locations, and automatically to external hard disk once available
Windows desktop and Google desk top integration for finding files quickly in archives
Try&Decide'" Safely test new downloads before applying changes permanently to your PC
FREE! Drive Cleanser to wipe out disks securely

K-

Get £10.00 off Acronis True Image Home 2009 from any PC world store,
offer valid from 20th January until 9th April 2009.
This offer cannot be used In conjunction with any other.

Offer subject to availability. For more details please visit your local store.

Oulfll CDde: SSO061

EDITORIAL

Lucky number 7 for Windows?

Despite the gloomy economy, the sun is shining on CHS in
Las Vegas, and the Windows 7 beta is showing early promise

AllLTiill lilt' dismal retail and business
news over the past lew weeks, it's been
good to see at least the semblance of
some cheer coming out of the annual
Consumer Electronics Show (CBS) in Las Vegas.
This show ran al the beginning of January and
while visitor numbers were being predicted to he
down on last year, there was still plenty ol glitz
and hype to be found on products ranging from
web-enabled TVs to 3D desktop scanners.

One of the first big stories was Microsoft's
announcement of an initial public hcla lor
Windows 7. By the time you read this, the beta
download will probably have been stopped, as we
understand thai Microsoli intends to liinii the
number of downloads.

But if you missed it, don't worry too much as
we coverall the main features in our special

"It looks as though Microsoft intends to
launch Windows 7 before the end of 2009'

feature starting on page 45. ft certainly shows early
promise, although reading through the release
notes lor ihe beta, there's still an awfully long way
to go before this becomes a shipping product.

Il now looks as though Microsoft intends to
launch Windows 7 before the end of 2009, perhaps
in lime ior Christmas. But with ihe world economy
in an increasingly precarious state, I'm not even
going hi allcmpl [o make any predictions thai far
ahead - with Intel issuing profit warnings and
several top tech companies laying oil staff, it's
certainly going to be a rough ride this year.

One of the success stories of the Christinas
shopping season in the UK was the surprising
number ot Rlu-ray movies sold - over 1.5 million

in December alone, bringing ihe 2008 lolal lo 3.7
million, according to the British Video Association,
Ulu-ray players can be found lor well under L'200
now ( PC players for around £70), and - in a
reversal of the history of DVD players - rewritable
drives lor PCs are now becoming more readily
available. We still struggled to find more than a
handful lor our group lesl on page 100, bill prices
are already below £150, and hopefully will drop
much lurthei as demand increases, Lois ol people-
now own f ID-Ready TVs and, once Ihey've
experienced [be joys of 1113 TV either via broadcast
or glu-ray movies, the next logical stage is putting
home-made HD content unlo Ulu-ray discs.

Si ill with HD TV, Hreesan- hard disk recorders
are now appearing, with one of the lirsl models
from Humus reviewed on page 66 Preesal oilers
tree llll conteul. and is one ol I be easiest ways ot
accessing high-deliniiion programmes, rrecview
should also add HD services this year as the
national switchover lo digilal TV gets under way.

01 course, il you warn i o create youi own
movies, you're going m need some vidco-ediliug
software. Most people either have their own
lavourite application, or stick with what's bundled
with I heir camcorder. Bui ohen you'll lind these
programs lacking flexibility and leal tires. So if
you're al Ibis slage. or jusi warn in find out what
goodies the lalesl version ol your favourite editing
package has to offer, turn to page 89 lor our group
test ol all ihe top tilles.

Of course, when you're watching movies on
youi PC. ihe last thing you want is lor ymu i'< lo
go to sleep halfway through (unless you've beaten
it to it, of course). To find out how to sort out
Windows' power management features to prevent
such things, you might like lo take some lime lo
look at our feature on page 5 1, pcw

We are always happy to hear from you, email us at letters@pcw.co.uk

x For daily news updates,
* reviews and downloads
www.pcw.co.uk

Editorial Tel 020 7316 9000 • Fax 020 7316 9313

Subscription enquiries Online via our secure website: www.subscriptioa.co.uk/help/vnu

Email vru@subscription.co.uk ■ Tel 0870 830 4971

Back issue arid cover disc orders Tel. 0870 830 4973 For full contact details see page 160

•' www.pcw.co.uk

This month's essential stories and in-depth analysis

EDITED BY
CLIVE AKA5S

Windows 7 lifts CES gloom

IN THIS SECTION

NEWS

13 AM D targets u I tra-th i n s
Freescale takes on
Snapdragon

MSI boots out Bios

14 Virgin starts 50Mbit
rollout

3D webcam hits shops
Of com target hidden costs

15 New home data standard
Iomega media store

17 Police can hack your PC
Spam swamps email

18 Zune leaps out of tune
iPlayer goes multiplatform

19 Adobe technical publisher
Filemaker gets friendlier
More use Mozilla

SPECIAL REPORT

10 Consumer Electronics
Show

Panasonic pushes HD 3D.
First Superfast USB 3.0
product. Underwater
video mask

v Keep up to date
^l with the news,

reviews and

competitions in our

weekly newsletters.

To subscribe go to

www.pcw.co.uk

Microsoft chose the massive
Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) in Las Vegas to
launch the first public trial of Vista
successor Windows 7.

Chairman Steve Ballmer
announced during his keynote that
a beta version would be posted at
www.mi c rosoft.com/wi ndows-7 .
Microsoft is capping the number of
downloads, so you may already be
too late to get a copy. The new
code has been generally well
received - including by PQWs Tim
Anderson, whose in-depth report
on the new operating system starts
on page 45.

It certainly looks good in
demos. The most obvious
difference is in the revamped
Taskbar, which uses the icons much
better than Vista, popping up
usable views and menus without
forcing you to maximise

The icons arc larger, too, to
facilitate finger control on
touch screens; Windows 7 also
supports multi-touch gestures,
bringing iPhone-style control to
suitable platforms.

Windows 7 is said to run on any
box that can run Vista - including
Atom -powered netbooks.

Ballmer also announced the
availability of a new version of
Windows Live, Microsoft's suite of
online services. This is significant
for beta testers as Windows 7
loses the current form of Vista's

Netbooks were the rage at CES. Sony's Valo P measures 12x24.5x1 .98cm and
weighs just 638g with a 60GB hard disk - or 61% if you can afford a 128GB
SSD option. Prices start at £849

Calendar, Mail, Photo Gallery.
Movie Maker, and Contacts.

Instead you are invited you to
download versions which can be
used standalone or act as clients for
Live versions that can be used from
any browser. Microsoft gives you
25GB of online storage, too.

Some manufacturers may opt to
pre-load the clients - Dell says it will.
This opt-in is presumably to avoid
reviving accusations of monopoly
abuse, using Windows to lock
people into Microsoft services.

The usual caveats about
using beta code apply: don't install
over a mission-critical system and
back everything up. Windows 7
uses the Vista kernel and so should
present few compatibility problems.

But it is reasonably stable.

Other developments at CES
include the launch of a smart
power supply, long propounded
by PCW (see opposite and
www.pcw.to.uk/ 2133619). And
Palm's new Pre smartphone caused
much excitement (www.pcw.co.uk/
2233632) There's more CES news at
WWW.pCW.CO.uk/2233S94.

The economic crisis cast a
shadow over the show, making the
razzmatazz seem odd Jobs arc at
risk but a downturn could also slow
innovation Taiwanese vendors arc
reported to have asked Intel to
delay the release of its next mobile
platform to give them time to clear
current stocks. See the show report
on page 10. Ctive Ates

Pack your life on to a 2-terabyte SD card

Memory firms plan to make a ^^^^^^^^^^^ gy was

Memory firms plan to make a
barely imaginable 2TB of storage
available on an SD card or
Memory Stick. The move would
enable the use of compact HD
video cameras, as well as 'life
recorders' that capture everything
you say and do.

The SD Association
announced a new SDXC (for
Extended Capacity) specification
at CES that will be published in
the next few weeks. No timescale

The new 2TB SDXC card

was given for reaching 2TB
capacity but first implementation
are likely to hold less.

Read/right speeds are
expected to hit 104Mbits/sec this
year but the 5DXC road map goes
to three times as fast

Sandisk and Sony announced
a joint effort to create a Memory
Stick Pro capable of storing up to
2TB, in a device measuring just
31x2x1 ,6mm, with a maximum
transfer rate of 320Mbits/sec.

www.pcw.co.uk March 2C

GENERAL < NEWS

End of the line for adapters?

In brief

Anew industry initiative could
cut down our need to lug
around multiple power
adapters - surely the single biggest
irritation in computing

PCW has been pointing out for
years that the technology exists for
smart power supplies with standard
connectors that deliver whatever a
device wants. But the idea has never
gained momentum, perhaps
because vendors arc making too
much money from existing adapters.

The new initiative, launched in
Hong Kong last month, would do
away with the plugs altogether and
deliver power wirelessly. This is
already done by any adapter that

uses a transformer: power is
transferred by wireless induction
between the primary and
secondary windings.

In the system proposed by the
new Wireless Power Consortium
(WPC), the primary and secondary
would be separated respectively
into the source and the device
drawing power. There are eight
companies in the WPC: National
Semiconductor. Philips, Sanyo,
Texas Instruments, Logitech,
Convenient Power, Fulton
Innovation and Shenzhen Sang Fei
Consumer Communications.

Proprietary wireless charging
devices are already available.

but they are not interoperable.
The WPC aims to create a
standard to allow any compliant
device to be charged by any

compliant source

"This is a crucial moment in
the development of wireless
power," said Menno Treffers,
senior director of standardisation
at Philips and chairman of the WPC.

The standard relates only to
power transmission across a short
distance and is not about to do
away with adapters. It will deliver
only 5W, so is suitable for only
low-drain devices. However, the
WPC intends to move on to a
higher power spec.

Lenovo pulls out a dual screen laptop

We've long liked the idea of a notebook with two screens that
opens out like a book, though we have yet to see one gaining
success in the mainstream.

Lenovo's new W700ds Think pad notebook has a rather
different take on the two-screen idea. It has a 1 7in main display
and a 10 6in one pulls out from the casing when required.
Lenovo hopes it will appeal to people in graphics- intensive fields
such as digital media creation, geophysical exploration and
computer-aided design. Pricing starts at £3,459.

Lenovo's UK online shop is at http://shop.lenouo.co.uk

A 10.6in screen can he pulled out as needed

Macworld gloom over Apple's lost Jobs

The annual Macworld convention
at which Apple has traditionally
tried to upstage the Consumer
Electronics Show was most notable
this year for the absence of its
celebrity salesman. Steve Jobs

It was also the last time that
Apple itself will attend the show,
which the company does not
own. Jobs, who has looked thin
in recent months, was forced to
issue a denial that he is suffering
from a resurgence of pancreatic
cancer, for which he has had
treatment. He issued a statement
saying he is now being treated for
a hormonal imbalance.

The other big news at the show

Jobs... and the new Macbook Pro

was that almost the entire
catalogue of music at the iStore will
now be sold free of digital rights
management, so it can be swapped
easily between different players.

The news was generally
welcomed -though Ben Drury,
chief executive at music-download
site 7 Digital, pointed out that
tracks will still be sold in Apple's
AAC format support by few devices
other than Apple products. "So
consumers who buy downloads
from iTunes are still restricted to
where they can play that music "

Also unveiled was a 17irt
Macbook Pro said to run for eight
hours between charges. Apple
claims the batteries can be
recharged 1 ,000 times - three times
more than conventional ones. The
notebook weighs 3kg - presumably
because of the extra batteries.

Cheaper help calls

BT is making calls to 0S70 and
0845 numbers free of charge to
subscribers using its its Anytime
and Evening and Weekend
tariffs. They arc often used for
technical support, which means
users will be able to get help
free The use of 0S70 numbers
has been much criticised and
led to the creation of the
www.saynotoOS70.com site, which
gives alternative numbers for
companies using the prefixes.
The Government is looking
into the use of 0845 numbers by
the NHS. 8T estimates its
decision may cost it as much as
£24m in lost revenues. Mobile
callers will still have to pay more
for 0845 and 0870 calls. Most
networks even charge for calls
placed to 'free' 0800 numbers.

Green batteries

Fuji chose the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas
to launch these green disposable
batteries, with no cadmium
or mercury and using
recyclable materials. They will
be available this spring.
-> www.greenfuji.com

Frugal font

Even print fonts are going
green. Dutch marketing
company Spranq has designed a
font with holes as a way of
using less ink - inspired by the
holes in Dutch cheese.
-> www.ecofont.eu

Home 3G

Operators are expected to start
trials of Femtocell 3C cellular
home base stations, following
the approval of specifications by
the 3PP standards body.

•' www.pcw.co.uk

NEWS > CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW

FOR MORE CES NEWS go to
www.pcw.co.uk/2233594

Frugal hybrid

MSI claims its lOin U1 15 Hybrid
can last up to 12 hours between
charges using a six-cell battery It
has both a solid-state drive and a
hard drive, using hybrid storage
technology to combine the
advantages of both.
-* www.msicomputer.co.uk

Asus keyboard

Asus showed a quirky keyboard
with a built-in PC and a screen that
can be used to browse the internet
or email. It can also be connected
to a standard display. Connectivity
options include Wifi, Bluetooth 2
and Ultrawideband HDMI.

The company also showed its
first swivel -screen tablet, the T91
It's just 1 in thick and uses a
1 .33GHz Atom Z520 processor.
-> http://uk.asus.com

! <

Oled mini PC

Handheld PC pioneer OQO
showed a new model 2+ that it
says is the first PC to used an Oled
display. It has an 1 .86GHz Atom
processor, 2GB of Ram and 3G
support. It will launch in the first
half of this year for $999 (£670).
-^ www.oqo.com

Mini videocam

Kodak launched a tiny Zxl digital
video camera, capable of shooting
720p HD video at up to 60 frames
per second. A 2in LCD and built-in
software enables mobile editing.
-» www.kodak.co.uk

High-def 3D TV 'not far off

Panasonic is pushing for a
standard for 108Qp high-
definition 3D TV to enable
services to get off the ground,
its chief executive Yds hi Yamada
told a CES press conference.

He said the company would
propose a standard in Japan
in the coming months for the
system it debuted last year at
the Cebit show in Germany.

"Panasonic does not think
that 3D high definition for the
home is far away at all," Mr
Yamada said. "We arc at the
start of another phase-change
that will have an impart on
Panasonic's business."

The standard is needed for
both consumer and broadcast
devices to encode and decode
images. Panasonic has been
working with studios and standards
groups to develop a format.

"3D in the home will never
flower unless we have a national
standard," said Bob Perry,
executive vice-president of
Panasonic consumer electronics.
" But we are very excited because
we believe that 3D changes the
world from watching TV to an
immersive experience."

Elsewhere in the show
Mitsubishi demonstrated a system
that translates 2D games and

movies into 3D and does not
require the use of special glasses
to view the effect. It is based
on a package from Nvidia called
3D-Vision.

Philips sell 5 software called
Wowvx that does the same thing
and it demonstrated an entirely
different 3D system at the IFA
show in Berlin !ast year. Instead
of storing different stereoscopic
data for each eye, it adds depth
information to 2D pixels.

Several different 3D rendering
technologies arc also available.
so a global standard will be hard
to establish
• BSkyB trials 3D - see page 14

'Cinematic internet' on TV

Yahoo is teaming up with
manufacturers Samsung, Toshiba
and LG to bring the internet to a
new range of television sets.

A new Yahoo Widget Engine
displays a series of internet options
in a scrolling bar across the base
of the screen, which can be
accessed using a standard TV
remote control.

"The merging of the internet
and television will create what
we call the cinematic internet,"
Patrick Berry, vice-president
of connected TV at Yahoo, told
CES delegates.

"This will make TV into
something bigger and more
exciting than ever It will allow
developers to reach a whole
new community."

The links will not only be for
Yahoo sites - the company has
already signed up photo-sharing
site Flickr and free internet radio
service Pandora

Yahoo will be looking at the
initiative to shore up its ailing
internet business. The company
had a bad 2008 and is falling
behind in the search and
community stakes. lain Thomson

Superspeed
USB link demo

Symwavc demonstrated one of the
first products to use the new USB3
link - its storage controller working
with a Seagate Freeagent drive.

USB3 enables speeds of up to
5Gbits/sec using a technology
dubbed Superspeed. That is 10
times the rated speed of wired
USB2, though the real throughput
is much lower It also delivers 80
per cent more power than USB2

Around 200 firms have joined
the Superspeed USB organisation
to promote the technology.
-^ www.usb.org

Video technology takes a dive

This might look like a picture of the latest villain
from Dr Who, but it is in fact a model
demonstrating Liquidimage's 310 camera mask for
taking still and video images underwater.

The company says it is suitable for snorkellers,
free divers and shallow -water scuba divers (you
can't use it below 10m) But as anyone who has
been close to a coral reef will know, you can get
spectacular views just dipping below the surface.

The frame rate has been pushed from 20 to 30 a
second at 720x480 resolution. You can take stills at
five-megapixel (2,560x1,920) resolution. It is due to
launch internationally in February for S 159 (£107).
-> www.l lquidlmaggco.com

The camera mask takes stills and video In the shallows

www.pcw.co.uk

Vigor 2820 Series

The Ultimate ADSL Firewall/Router

ADSL/ADSL2+and Broadband Router
3G (Cellular) Modem & phone support
Dual-WAN ports for ADSL, cable modem or both
802.11 n Draft 2,0 Wireless (WiFi Certified)
Comprehensive and robust stateful Firewall
Twin VoIP ports with PSTN passthrough
Content Filtering (by keyword or data lype)
SurfControl Web Site Category Filtering

■ Ethernet wired and WiFi Virtual LAN

■ Rack Mountable (Optional kit)

■ Configurable QoS (traffic prioritisation)

■ VPN Dial-in/dial-out with VPN co-processor

■ Gigabit LAN Port for server connectivity

■ USB Port for Printer or 3G Cellular Modem
» Highly configurable and easyto monitor

» See Web site for full product details

Vigor no

ADSL Ethernet M«*m

• IM AOS. Elwna Modem

■ ADSL Pnntftera ptt-w Tor UK

• ADS. AOSL2,AtJ5L;»Snipon

■ i-Hti Par luatuuiidflg louKfs

Vigor2910 Series

Broadband Security Router

• ftJOuSl Ftfe»WI «* ElhWMt VW*

" CSV (Content Security Mmrn^vnvt i
■WfeQc

• "uuP cac*c*ty «ti 2 pheni pan s

• Qo5 tot ntgn v*oiP 4y*ny

• i^)tDJ2VPSlUnnsls

• ?G C*liijftf Date Optra

Vigor 2930 Series

Ethernet Securrty Router

• rXalEtiefTVStWJ

■ Rodum Htwni

* CSM tCantere secJTiy Marmgemwti

• V*+i oantonnriwr i *im SuficaniToi >

• Ugh PKtonnin» UWJ & VPN

■ VoIP capebll rty with 2 prion* (ton*

■ Oo£ tar tuaft VoIP quality

* H5 10 3^ UPK lunrai?

* ISDN Backup A connectivity

Vigor2950 Series

Dual WAN Secunty Firewall

. ugh PerJorm«»i?OHIVs)

• Dutl ElhetW VWJ Pom to
taw bSanong or V*N bWttp

• 5-pflfl Ofld>1 UN *itn VL A>*

• Robus: nrciral A Q&S

• CSU iGomhfi s«u*iry Maiuguneffli
f Web omrenMHteF |.wim SurfCcnDroJi

■ ."Cfl Hign Ftflf/rrflncft VPN hnnHa

• : : l ■■' N

Vigor3300V

Enterprise Murtrserviee Security Router

* 4-pOTT V+H Sfld 4-pofl Etl*mB LAN

• EMC mmsa a I

• Well content Wet i#flri StflCofrtnui

• UplQ&FxOor&FX&VttfPp-arfe

■ Qo5 Bor ri^ft VoIP Quatry

■ ConflflLJlM'# DMZ pen

■ JCB VPf* uir*ls

VigorPro 5510 UTWI

• High Performance Firewall
■ Oual WAN Interfaces

• Artti-Vtrus & Arrti-Troian

• Real-Time Artll-Spam

• 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet UN

• Gigabit Ethernet Port

• Vast array ol security features

See web site for full specification

Eft QE All ipeemecHoni lubiecrte change. Please cnect web lite rot cuirentmooel speeltlcononi.

DrayTek

www.draytek.co.uk

_ Personal.

Computer

World Direct

Protect your
identity online

Identity Protector provides you

with an anonymous, encrypted
internet connection allowing
you to become completely
invisible when you're online.

This great value software will stop others

from being able to spy on your computer with

Spyware, leaving you completely secure and in

control online.

Identity Protector also lets you remove annoying

online adverts, as well as erasing all your tracks

when surfing. You can even keep all your

personal data such as financial information and

passwords in a special location that only you can

access!

Get your copy today for only £1 9.56!

Kelvyn Taylor
Editor, PCW

15% VAT

System Requirements:

Windows Vista/XP/2000, Penlu- 360V1-.;. S-r-'b PAM, 16Mb Hard uiskspaco.

Place your order today!

www.direct-pcw.co.uk

Surf the Internet Safely arid Anonymously

Identity Protector protects you when your online by providing

you with an anonymous, encrypted internet conneclion In

keep you in control of your compuler

Prevent Identity Theft and Fraud

Privacy Auditor system lets ycu view anil black any data that

your computer sends over the Hemet

Maximum Spiyware Protection

I tie only software program that includes a special technology

to protest you tram arid remove harmful Spyvrare - software

that steals your kJonlily and harms your computer

Protect your Banking and Credit Data

With Identity Protector's advanced Spyware protection your

financial inlormafcm is kepi sate so you can browse the

internet without disclosing any personal information

Block Annoying Online Ms and Boost you PCs

performance

tltminate online adverts so ycu can he in control of your

computer screen, resulting in a taste internet connection too

Safeguard Your Personal Files

A Personal Data Vault is provided. This is a digital lockbox

for alt (Our confidential files. It gwes you a secure location to

sloreyour rJocumenls,. linaiicial inlcrmalion, passwords and

favourites

Erase Your Internet Tracks

Idenlity Protector erases all traces of your Internet surtiig

to the D.S. Department of Defence standards for data

destruction

Automatic Free Updates

The Auto-update feature guarantees lhat ycu will always

have the most complete and up-to-date anfl-spyware on your

computer

Stop Phishing Scams

Prated yourself from inlemel Iraud

Keep Your Computers IP Address Safe

01858 438883

jfflj YES. I would like to buy

(Enter quantity required}

15% WflT

! J Identity Protector 2007 otl ^Roduct$

ONLY £19.56

*0 mm . cm QQ o&P

+ £1-99 p&P

TOTAL

I2il Complete and post this form to:

PCW Direct, Tower House, Sovereign Park,
Market Harborough, Leicester, LE16 9EF

V^fJ Please allow 7-10 wording clays far daltvarv

Your Details (Block capitals)
Title Initials

Telephone No.

Subs No.

(if known)

Payment Options Mcasc irairalr; yu..r f )ro[r;n;rJ ™thnc "I rjayra-'Vi S isiSoSw! ta™ ^

I Cheque Enclosed for £ {Matte payable 10 VNU Business Publications Ltd)

IJ Please Charge E to my:

Visa |j t/astcrCarc J /Vnex J Jr-lta Q Switch/Maestro IJ issue No. -

nana c
i/nn

Ca-dNo

]□

]DD DC

][

■v,:l:l "rr.l H/ |

Expiry Date |_

z&$oc&. Con- rjuier World anc Personal Con' puler Wold Dree: are \x ;b d it: J by VNU Business Pubfcations, part of the Incisive Media

Gr'0..:i J i-.:-: :)■.■>: I'- ■v'.-ivv r : -'r .T m A- ,-i.j |. : ■ ■ -: u i . I>. ;iri-:1 v-irvi. ■■■-: 'fT'i IrH.'i''.; i\V Mod h •"-j:\\:,- :.--■ ^r; I J ' ■■■*: :.:->. '.■;

eecelve infof ntatlon about products and services Irom selected companies by email U Tick box if you do nol want to receive
^(ormaijon about products and services from the Incisive Media Group by posi/telephone. U Tick box if you do not want to
i&Ceivs informgtictn about products and services irgm selected companies by post/telephOne> (CODE FC1G)

SYSTEMS < NEWS

Neo fills thin portables gap

AMD has unveiled
a new mobile
platform designed
for thin notebooks capable
of rivalling more compact,
but rot necessarily lighter,
mini -laptops in the
growing market for truly
portable computers.

It believes its Ultrathin
Notebook Platform offers
performance at the nght price
to fill a perceived gap between
low-cost minis that compromise
or performance and expensive
ultraportables offering a full
PC experience.

It comprises a new 1 6GHz
single-core mobile chip, the Athlon
Neo (codenamed Yukon), a new
M690T chipset and an optional
discrete ATI graphics chip The
Neo uses a Ball Grid Array package
which is soldered directly into place
and improves heat flow.

The platform was jointly
developed with HP. which built

its Pavilion dv2 notebook around
it. Both were launched officially
at this year's CES.

Bahr Mahony, AMD product
marketing director, said the new
platform provides the full Vista
graphics experience in "amazingly
thin yet optimally sized" laptops
He added: "What we see is an
opportunity for a new highly
portable notebook category that

Neo portable... HP's new 12ln DV2 laptop
is built round AMD's ultrathin platform

gives you the best of both worlds "
Another platform called Congo
featuring a dual-core processor will
be launched later this year

The dv2 has a 12 in display and
is expected to cost between $699
(1456) and $899 (£586).
AMD has also
launched two new
dual-core Athlons for
low-cost desktops. The 2.5GHz
X2 7550 will be available only to
system builders, and the 2.7GHz
X2 7750 Black Edition, with an
unlocked clock multiplier, will be
available in bulk, costing $79 (£53),

As we went to press AMD
launched a desktop platform
codenamed Dragon, using two
new Phenom II quad-cores, the
3CHz X4 940 and the 2 .8GHz X4
920, plus the 700 series chipset and
support for up to four ATI Radeon
4800-series graphics cards

Freescale takes on Snapdragon for netbooks

Frccscale. formerly the
semiconductor arm of Motorola,
is targeting the emerging nctbook
market with an ARM-based
platform designed to run for eight
hours between charges

The reference design, a basis
for finished products, uses
Freescale's new iMX51 5

processor, which has an ARM
Cortex A8 core it will compete
not only with Intel Atom-based
designs, but also with
Qualcomm'5 ARM-based
Snapdragon system-on-a-chip.

Snapdragon promises to allow
netbooks to run for a working day
on a single charge. Freescale says

devices using its platform should
cost less than $200

It uses Canonical'; Ubuntu
operating system, which is being
optimised for ARM., a new power-
management chip, the SGTL5O0O
ultra-low power processor and
Adobe Flash Lite, which is
designed to run on mobiles.

MSI boots out the Bios on new boards

MSI has launched its first
motherboards to use the Unified
Extensible Firmware Interface
(UEFI). which is expected to
eventually supersede the Bios code
that kicks in when a PC boots up.

The Company says the
technology will be introduced on
its next-generation range, starting
with the P45D3 Platinum and
P45 Platinum motherboards.

The main difference for the user
is that UEFI supports mouse control
and a graphical interface before the
operating system boots up. It also

directly supports functionality such
as web browsing and instant
messaging without the full
operating system - though Phoenix
offers similar facilities via the
traditional Bios.

Vista was supposed to support
UEFI at launch but it came with
only the release of the 64-bit
version of Vista Service Pack 1
Microsoft says there will be no
32-bit version.

"Because most new PCs now
use 64-bit-capable processors,
Microsoft wants to use the advent

of mainstream 64-bit computing
as a transition point to enable a
move toward 64- bit UEFI as the
standard PC firmware." a
Microsoft paper said.

Intel- based Macs already use
UEFI, but Apple has the advantage
of having tight control over the
hardware Microsoft points out that
its support "means testing multiple
Windows versions on a
heterogeneous mix of UEFI
firmware implementations from
different firmware vendors on
many hardware platforms"

$1.5bn hype

Microsoft made more than $1 ,5bn
(£1 ,02bn) from its Vista Capable
campaign, which branded PCs as
ready for the operating system
before the launch, according to
documents provided to the court
during a class-action suit.

Keith Lcfflcr, an associate
professor in the University of
Washington's Department of
Economics, based the figure on
revenues from XP licences sold
with Vista Capable- branded
machines, which are the subject
of a class-action suit by people
complaining they did not support
full Vista graphics

His evidence, submitted in a
paper to court, could be used as
a benchmark for penalties if
Microsoft loses the case.
-* www.pcw.co.uk/2233289

Open netbook

The burgeoning netbook market
is helping to drive Linux adoption
around the world, according to
new figures from Forrester
Research.

"While Linux-based netbooks
have not gained much consumer
acceptance in the US, their success
varies greatly by geographical
market. In developing countries,
Linux-based Ecc PCs have
fared better," said Forrester analyst
jP Gowndcr.

"Even if a majority of netbooks
run Windows, the minority that
run Linux are the most successful
non-Windows. non-Macintosh
consumer PCs in the industry
in terms of penetration."

More than a third of US
households are investigating
buying a nctbook. according to
the research.
-* www.pcw.co.uk/2233381

512GB SSD

Toshiba has unveiled what it
says is the world's first 2.5in
512GB solid-state drive (SSD)
using its 43nm Nand chips.
Capacities of 64GB, 128GB and
256GB will also be on offer in
1 .Bin or 2. Sin enclosures, or as
SSD Flash modules.
-» www.pcw.co.uk/2232862

■ www.pcw.co.uk

NEWS > COMMUNICATIONS

In brief

20Mbit for a tenner

02 is offering 20Mbits/sec
access to its mobile customers for
just £9.79 per month, with no
usage caps. Customers of other
mobile providers will be charged
£14.68 and a receive prioritised
customer service.

A Pro service for business
users includes an enhanced
router, better coverage, more
reliability and upload speeds of
up to 2.5Mbits/sec, claims 02.

Pay-as-you-go data

Vodafonc is offering a £39
USB modem to allow
laptop users web access on a
pay-as-you-go tariff. The Top up
and Co modem doubles as a
USB Flash drive holding up to
4GB and the price includes 1GB
of data traffic Each additional
1GB costs £15.
-^ www.pcw.co.uki'2232778

Virgin starts 50Mbit rollout

Web scores over TV

Most people would give up TV
rather than broadband if they arc
hit by the economic downturn,
according to a BT survey.

More than half of those
surveyed about how they
would save money said they
would retain their internet
link. Chocolate, television and
alcohol were regarded as
indispensable by only 25 per
cent, 22 per cent and
17 per cent of respondents,
respectively.
-» www.pcw.co.ufc/2232936

iPhone remote access

Log Me In has released a
version of its remote access
tool that allows iPhone and
iPod Touch users to control
Windows and Mac systems
remotely. The Log Me In
Ignition client can be
purchased through the iTunes
App Store for $29.99.
-4 www.pcw.co.uk/2232741

Cable giant Virgin Media has
begun a rollout of 5GMbits/sec
services and promises speeds
of up 200Mbits/sec within two or
three years

The speed boost has been
achieved using the Docsis 3.0
standard, which covers data
transmission by cable and allows
separate channels to be bonded
into a single faster one.

"This is just the beginning,"
said Kevin Baughan. director of
technical strategy, launching the
50Mbit service in London. Data
rates of up to 200Mbits/sec
have already been achieved in
the lab and will be possible on
home links after the phasing out of
analogue channels, which are
now used by only five per cent
of Virgin customers.

Prices for the new setvice start
at £35 a month and there is a £50
start- up fee, which includes a new
modem and four-port 802.11 n
wireless router, which will be
installed by an engineer.

Executives said the company
was supplying the router because it
had found many off-the-shelf
products could not deliver the
performance needed for a 50Mbit
link. They insist the router is future-
proof, though 11n Wifi cannot
normally support the projected
2 00Mb its/ sec data rate.

The 50Mbits/sec service is
now available to 40 per cent of
subscribers and the rest will be
enabled by this summer, according
Virgin Media chief exec Neil Berkett.

He refused to say how much the
company is spending on the

upgrade, but Virgin Media probably
has no choice but to get it in place
before rival BT upgrades. Currently.
Virgin has more headroom on
bandwidth than any of its rivals.

Gordon Brown unveiled plans at
the new year to invest in upgrading
Britain's broadband infrastructure as
part of his 'New Deal' scheme to
create up to 100,000 jobs.
However his announcement was
notably short on details. Ironically
some emerging economies have
more advanced broadband than
'developed' countries because they
can start from scratch with fibre.

Virgin insists the routers arc
future-proof although there is no
way, without doubling up channels,
that Wifi can hit the 2 00M bits/sec
the company says will be on offer
soon on its broadband links.

Ofcom clamps down on hidden costs

Neady three in 10 broadband users
have been hit by unexpected
charges, according to a survey by
price- comparison site
Moncysupcrmarkct

The survey of 2,016 users
revealed hidden charges for paper
billing, non-direct debit payments,
late payment, installation, support,
exceeding downloading limits and
activation fees.

They cost an average £36 per
year and earned providers an
additional £160m in revenues.

BT was identified as the worst
offender with an extra £51 per
year, followed by Virgin Media
{£42), Sky (£35) and AOL (£29).

"Although we've seen telecom,
bills fall in the past year, providers
arc still clawing back millions with
unnecessary charges, many of
which arc unfair," said James
Parker, mobile/broadband manager
at Moneysupermarket.com.

"Ofcom should either eradicate
these charges, or impose strict caps
to protect the consumer."

The survey came as regulator
Ofcom issued guidelines for service
providers on how to comply with
the Unfair Terms in Consumer
Contract Regulations Act of 1999

Telecoms and pay TV
companies have until April to bring
their terms and conditions into line,
after which Ofcom will "consider
the best way to make sure they
comply with the law".

An Ofcom statement said:
"These companies need to be clear
and up front with their customers."

3D coming online and to BSkyB television

Media giant BSkyB has
demonstrated a 3D television

transmission delivered via a
standard Sky+ HD system to a
3D- ready TV. The system requires
users to wear special glasses
though they are not needed by
all 3D systems

BSkyB's demo of 3D content
included football and rubgy
matches. Gerry O'Sullivan,
director of strategic product
development, said the company's

strategy was to anticipate future
demands, "including the
potential to turn HD into 3D".

3D is also coming online. The
Minoru 3D webcam (right),
previewed in PCW last year,
should be available at Amazon
and Firebox.com by the time you
read this It costs £49.95. Minoru,
which means 'reality' in Japanese,
can be used with Windows Live
Messenger, Skype, and other
video-conferencing packages.

www.pcw.co.uk

>MMUN I CATIONS < NEWS

Home data standard mooted

Anew network standard is
designed to send data over
home power wiring, co-axial
cables and telephone wiring at
speeds high enough to deliver
high-definition video.

The G.hn standard, which has
just passed the first phase of
ratification by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU),
could appear in products as soon
as 2010,

It is backed by the Homegrid
Forum, a group of vendors
including Intel, Infineon, Panasonic
and Texas Instruments

Forum president Matthew
Theall, a technology strategist at
Intel's Digital Home group, said it
should allow data rates up to
400M bits/sec over co-axial cables,
up to 20OMbits/sec over power
lines and somewhere between the
two over phone extensions.

It will also allow devices
connected to one type of cabling to

Rivalry on
the mains,
a Netgear
Homeplug adapter

communicate with others linked to
a different type.

The Homegrid Forum foresees
a digital video recorder streaming
HDTV over the mains wiring. Chips
supporting the standard might also
be built into computers, set-top
boxes, residential gateways, audio
systems, TVs. or any other device

that uses a network connection.
"In the future, phones might
integrate the chipset so you can
plug your phone into the wall
and make IP calls over the
power line," said Theall
The Forum hopes
to have a full
specification by
September
2009, which
will allow chip
manufacturers
to have
transceivers ready
for the first half of
2010. Theall expects the
transceiver chips to add only a
small cost to devices.

However, the standard could
come up against competition with
others, such as that promoted by
the Homeplug Powerline
Association This is restricted to
data- over- mains but is already
well established

Iomega media
hub on stream

Iomega has launched its Home
Media Network hard disk, which it
daims sets a new standard in easy-
to-use storage for the digital home.

It comes in 500GB and 1TB
versions, costing £135 and £180
respectively, and uses EMC's
Linux-based Lifeline software to
facilitate backing up home devices
and streaming multimedia content
to them

The product supports iTunes.
Universal' Plug and Play (UPnP) and
Digital Living Network Alliance
(DLNA) certified devices. Users also
get 2GB of online storage free, or
unlimited storage for 14 95 (£3.40)
per month.

COMPRO

TECHNOLOGY

it tt S/rftr

Watching TV on your PC! What a bargain!

* WBnnr

Ertvinai TV Bo«
6 -Wlltfwig WoflPCmonflor
| without carmpuEH ayttem

"Hybrid lunerfor DVB-T and
Anfttagiie TV reception
•Support upto iBOQ K120Q

aatfaMtuBon with 2£r LCD monitor

Vista E9O0F

* Dual Hftrti tuner ^ DVB-T and

Anafcgue TV reception

* Came wflft hardware MPEG- 1 -2,*
encoder PAL 3D YrC Separation

- Microec*! certified Vi&larf
MCE nsmrjfcp control

£ ■

Vista U280OF

-Hybntf utnfjr fa DVB-T a

*- -KCfli j e TV f ece pl'cm
• M-craud certified Vista.'
MCE iwnoffl control antf
MPEG-2 encode*

■ Oaremt KC CUMIS LM m—w ta g B U Bl m I* CufflCU QH?<rU7)l C o nn —) Mt hmta
a Cen*an? SCAN CnrrwAn tot** www icwi cu \m Coma TW OiTD TEH *T#7 Cum»y JM Bma

WHERE TO BUY '•■««">» ft**n> vi*m* —.m.maji* cnatiinfitBiM Qunmn omooamtMf.

■ COTfwtf DdcM WM— mm muji en J OmiW mimMI ; C f > MOPPWCT
tmmfCP wmmb (Mvercni* Qnaw osrai2O2S30 nnnBn cctcanan

Um i ■■ « »!« CaMldlVIIWIItl
flMwIh Wlllllfcll dwnmin ■ Ca«fl1* 057UM0 7TOD
Ml* OJMW.WW40HBIJ

na» ..n. ««ju»« a » Co*n*< SOTutus

.-,«»», mi ■iimi» Con»or»Q«i*rt20i

■ www.pcw.co.uk

2009,

The Professional Vlviser awards are vo led for by authorised financial advisers.

So, if you are nominated,
vou have already won genuine reeo^nilion williin die industry.

The very best product providers, with
outstanding performance in the sector,
will be announced at the London Hilton,
Park Lane on Wednesday 28 January 2003.

For details on awards sponsorship
and table booking, contact
Louise Hanna on 0207 484 3893 or
Charlie Copeland on 0207 484 9963

For all other information about the night please
contact Melanie De Wit on 020 7968 4751 .
Visitwww.professionaladviser.ca.uk/awards
for more information

Sponsored by:

Indsivemeifct event

CAPITA

F IhAMCIAl %Q'1 W*H£

IHTELLIFL0

1st

n r-
_y Exchange

Hosted by:

Praessional Adviser

Thames River Capital.

SECURITY < NEWS

Police can hack into your PC

Police and security services
have been granted new
powers to hack into personal
computers without a warrant,
following European Union
proposals aimed at extending the
use of intrusive surveillance

They allow the use of
keyloggers, which can be installed
in a variety of ways, to monitor
keyboard use including emails,
web surfing and instant messaging
conversations.

Authority must still be obtained
from a chief constable, but the new
rr.easLircs have angered opposition
MPs. and civil liberty and privacy
organisations are threatening a
legal challenge

"The exercise of such
intrusive powers raises serious
privacy issues," said Shadow Home
Secretary Dominic Grieve. "The
government must explain how it
would work in practice and what

safeguards will be in place."

Shami Chakrabati, director of
human rights group Liberty, added:
"These are very intrusive powers.
The public will want this to be
controlled by new legislation and
judicial authorisation.

"Without those safeguards it is
a devastating blow to any notion of
personal privacy. This is no different
from breaking down someone's
door, rifling through their
paperwork and seizing their
computer hard drive."

The Association of Chief Police
Officers (ACPO) defended the

Keyshark hardware keylogger...
police will be able to hack into
personal computers remotely

move, pointing out that it would
still be governed by the Regulation
of Investigatory Powers Act.

"To be a valid authorisation, the
officer must believe it is necessary
to prevent or detect serious crime...
and that it is proportionate to what
it seeks to achieve." said an ACPO
spokesman.

"The police service in the UK
will aggressively pursue serious and
organised criminality, including
where that takes the modern forms
of high-tech crime."

According to the police. 194
police hacking operations were
carried out in England,
Wales and Northern Ireland over
the past two years: 1 33 in private
homes, 37 in offices and 24 in
hotels Ian Williams

BT set to go ahead with 'intrusive' Phorm

E5T has concluded its trial of

advertisements. Its creators claim

online advertising programme has

the controversial Phorm online

that any data collected would be

attracted more than 18.000

advertising system and is set

anonymous, but critics suggest it

signatures since its introduction

to go ahead with its wi descale

might be intrusive and could

in March.

deployment.

violate personal privacy.

BT is not the only service

"The trial... achieved its

A petition, which asks the UK

provider considering using the

primary objective of testing al!

government to regulate Phorm 's

tool, according to campaigners.

the elements necessary for a

use, is ongoing until March and

"The system doesn't breach

larger deployment." a BT

holds almost 20,000 signatures.

privacy - it's an improvement for

spokesman said.

An online petition set up to try

online privacy over what is offered

Phorm uses browsing data

to persuade the government to

today," said Jonathan Carter,

to serve accurately targeted

halt the controversial Phorm

senior media manager at BT.

Spam to hit 95 per cent of all emails

Spam will comprise more than
95 per cent of all email in 2009.
despite a crackdown on several
major spam outfits in recent
months, according to IT security
firm Barracuda Networks

It said spam levels last year
remained largely unchanged
compared with 2007 - at between
90 and 95 per cent.

However, the growing use of
botnets - networks of hijacked
machines - could push up figures
in 2009, the company says.

Stephen Pao, vice-president
of product management at
Barracuda, said spam is coming
increasingly from countries such
as Brazil and Turkey, as well as
the 'usual suspects' of China
and Russia.

"We believe this is due in
part to residential broadband
penetration and a proliferation
of datacentres in various countries
around the worid. As broadband
availability increases, the reach
and control of botnet activity

also grows. Unsecured datacentres

are ripe for hacking and hosting
malicious content."

Hackers are using clever
techniques to circumvent spam
filters, including identity
obfuscation, devious clever social
engineering, and hijacking
legitimate email accounts.

"Phishing attacks are certainly
not new, but the levels of
sophistication can be quite
astounding," said Pao.
-» www.pcw.co.uk/2232782

'Roadmap to
soul' privatised

A private company will run the
government's proposed database of
every phone call, text, email and
website visit made in Britain.

The plan, instigated by home
secretary Jacqui Smith, is to cut the
cost of collecting and maintaining
the records but there will be tough
penalties if the data is misused,
according to a Guardian report.

The proposals came in for strong
criticism, not least from Sir Ken
Macdonald. ex -director of Public
Prosecutions "This database would
be dn unimaginable hcll-housc of
personal private information," he
said "it would be a readout of
every citizen's life in the most
intimate, demeaning detail. No
government is to be trusted with
such a roadmap to our souls.''

Service providers currently hold
the details of customer activity, but
the government plans to spend
£12bn on a 'more efficient'
combined database

Macdonald said: "Total security
is a paranoid fantasy that would
destroy everything that makes
living worthwhile... We must avoid
surrendering our freedom to such
an ugly future. We should make
judgements that are compatible
with our status as free people."
-> www.pcw.co.uk/2233212

China jails
piracy ring

China has jailed 11 men for
running a piracy racket said to
have distributed $2bn worth of
counterfeit Microsoft products in
36 countries on five continents

Sentences ranged from 18
months to six years - the highest
yet for piracy offences in China.
The operation was broken in 2007
in a joint operation by China and
America, in what was said to be
the world's largest piracy bust.

China has been widely criticised
for its leniency on patent
infringement. "Enforcement of
intellectual property rights is critical
to innovation and fair competition."
said Fengming Liu. Microsoft's VP
of the greater China region
-> www.pcw.co.uk/2233213

■ www.pcw.co.uk

NEWS > MEDIA PLAYERS

Multi-platform
iPlayer beta

A beta version of the BBC's iPlayer
client now extends the programme
download service to Mac and Linux
users, not just Windows PC users

The iPlayer Desktop download
manager, which uses Adobe's A!R
screen -drawing technology, allows
UK users to view shows online or
offline It will be available later this
year and users can sign up as beta
testers at www.bbc.to.uk/iplayer/labs

The BBC also plans a version
for viewers aged between six and
1 2 - iPlayer for CBBC. It will host
children's shows such as Blue Peter.
The Sarah Jane Adventures and Ml
High for up to 1 3 weeks as part of
the BBC's series catch -up feature.

It will also help restrict access to
programming not meant for young
viewers. "Children live in an
interactive, on-demand wodd and
this launch means CBBC can be
there for them." said Richard
Deverell, controller of BBC Children,
-^ www.ptw.co.uk/2232556

Zune leaps into Y2K trouble

Microsoft's Zune media
players were hit by an
embarrassing new year
hitch reminiscent of the
legendary Y2K bug.

The problem, limited to the
30GB Zune 30 made in 2006,
emerged when players began to
freeze because their internal

Zune media players did not take Into
account that 2008 was a leap year

videos
I let es
social

radio

podca

martet|

calendar took no account of the
fact that 2008 was a leap year

Most affected machines
fixed themselves by resetting
their calendars at noon GMT
on 1 January. Owners of
crashed machines were advised
to leave them on until the
battery discharged to force a

musiL

videos ^

pictures^

social

radio *

podcasts

marketplc

reset and then resync with their
PCs to square the digital rights
control.

Fears that a Y2K bug would
cause similar problems at the
millennium spawned an entire
sub-industry offering fixes It
turned out to be a non-event,
but it has never been established
whether this was because it was
ail hype or the fixes worked.

hosted by

computing

THIS SEMINAR IS A MUST FOR;

IT managers. IT architects, business managers
with ]'[ responsibility, process improvements experts, IT
infrastructure managers and IT strategy managers.

in association with

WEB SEMINARS

What is a web seminar?

An online video nr audio went providing critics I
information ru IT ain 11 res professionals

Are the events live?
Yes. Computing web seminars offer the
opportunity to interact with the speakers.
p.trrKipalein polls or submit tpteftioai -
ail in real time.

How do I participate?
Once y<m\v registered all yon haw to do is
attend the event .ir the URL link that will be
emailed to you.

Computing web seminars are an innovative,
convenient and effective way to keep up-KKlaie
with the latest fl nnd business issues FREE.

For man? information,

and to register for FREE, visit.

www.incisivewtbseminars.cam

USING BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT
TO THRIVE THROUGH THE DOWNTURN

Thursday 29 January 2009, 3pm - Live online

SEMINAR CONTENT:

In this Computing wet seminar, in association with Oracle, we
examine i he best practice in delivering BPM to provide greater
flexibility and efficiency tor your business. Our panel of experts will
,i;h\vlt your questions, and discuss how BPM technology can help IT
to more effectively support the achievement of business goals.

KEY BENEFITS OF ATTENDING:

ess improvements
Understand the way that leading-edge organisations are using BPM
_ Find out the benefits of in tcgrating BPM into your organisation
Learn how to get more out of your BPM tools and technologies
Find out the latest best practice tips for using BPM
Hear a case study from one of your peers on how to put BPM into action
Pu t you r questions to ou r ex pen panel of srjeakers

.egister

www.pcw.co.uk

SOFTWARE < NEWS

Get Flashy with tech manuals

Adobe has released a new
version of a suite aimed at
authors and designers of
manuals and interactive technical
documentation.

Adobe Technical
Communications Suite 2 includes
Photoshop CS4 for tight integration
of image processing into
workflows.

Central to the package is the
Framemaker9 publishing module,
which has been revamped with a
user interface similar to Adobe
Creative Suite 4.

Books created under
Framcmaker 4 now support XML,
including Dita 1.1 and 1.2 formats.
It can export and import to Adobe

Acrobat 9 Extended,
which is also included
in the suite. This
allows documents to
be shared and
reviewed easily,
without a dedicated
server, via
www.acrobat.com.

Other modules in
the suite include
Captivate 4 for
creating Flash-based
simulations and software demos,
and Robohclp 8 for authoring help
files. The latter supports Adobe's
AIR screen -writing technology
which allows help files to be sent
via mobile devices.

1 ADOBfTECHNICAL

I COMMUNICATION SUITE 2

The suite Includes
Photoshop CS4

The addition of
Photoshop provides
access to Adobe
Screen Capture and
Adobe Bridge, for
linking modules.

RJ Jacquez,
senior product
evangelist at
Adobe, said the

new suite provides a "solution for

authoring, reviewing and

publishing technical detail."

For pricing and availability sec

an update of this story at

www.pcw.co.uk.

Filemaker 10 puts on a friendly face

Version 10 of the Filemaker
database suite features a new
interface design, features to help
new users, and enhancements for
business users.

The simplified interface puts
the most commonly used
functions in plain sight, according
to the developer.

Kieran Saunders, Filemaker
sales engineer for Northern
Europe, said a lot of new users
arc unfamiliar with database
work. "They've been using data in
a spreadsheet and now the boss
wants to have that information in
a database. We've made it easy
to grab an Excel file, import it and
get started with a solution in
literally 30 seconds "

For more professional users,
Filemaker has added Script

Triggers that facilitate the use of
scripts that run when certain
conditions are met.

They can be used to schedule
actions or validate input. "For
developers, this feature will just
blow them away," said Saunders.

The server version of
Filemaker 10 now supports up to
999 concurrent users, up from a

Filemaker 10's new
interface is aimed at
helping new users

maximum 256, so
expanding firms can
continue to use
Filemaker.

Filemaker also
includes a C5S
format optimised
for display on Apple's iPhone.
giving it easy browser access to
a database.

The software is available in
four versions: Filemaker Pro 10
(£219), Filemaker Pro 10
Advanced (£329), Filemaker
Server 10 (£699) and Filemaker
Server 10 Advanced (£2,199)

Daniel Robinson

One in five surfers uses Firefox browser

Mozilla's Firefox has broken the 20
per cent barrier in worldwide use,
according to the latest data on
browser market share.

Figures collected by Net
Applications put it at 20.78 per
cent for last November, with
Microsoft's Internet Explorer falling
below 70 per cent for the first time
Apple's Safari was used by over

seven per cent and Google's
Chrome by fewer than one per
cent.

John Lilly, chief executive of
Mozilla, described the news as a
milestone for the open-source
project. "It is a huge achievement
by the global Mozilla community
that most would have considered
impossible just a few years ago.

"The open web is more vibrant
than ever and the thousands of
Mozilla contributors around the
world have played a major role in
making it that way."

Net Applications suggested
that higher unemployment may
have pushed up the figures as a
higher proportion of home users go
for Firefox.

Device 'back
seat driver'

Microsoft has found a new angle
on the design of touchscreens - by
putting the control surface on the
underside of the device.

The design stems from a project
called Nanotouch which aims to
improve touch control on screens
Putting the control surface on the
back solves the problem of fingers
blocking the control display,
according to Patrick Baudisch of
Microsoft Research, who is also a
professor of computer science and
human -computer interaction at
Postdam University in Germany.

The interface makes it possible
to play video games on a screen
the size of a credit card, he told
MIT Technology Review.

The team found that people
completed tasks using the system
at roughly the same speed,
whatever the size of the display,
but at the smallest size rear control
was more accurate

Adobe on TV

Adobe Flash technology will extend
to a wider variety of devices thanks
to a collaboration with Intel.

The Open Screen project will
port Flash Player and Flash Player
Lite to Intel's CE 3100 media
processor to allow the viewing of
web-based content and video on
TVs, set-top boxes, media players
and other devices.

The idea is that what you see
on your laptop will be exactly the
same on these other devices.
Adobe is also working with chip
designer ARM to optimise its
technology for that platform.

Notes 8.5

Version 8.5 of the Lotus
Notes/Domino collaboration
software, launched last month, is
said to have better Mac support
All versions can now use the
built-in Lotus Symphony Open
Document Format editor and the
Calendar is more flexible. Caching
of attachments sent to multiple
users has cut storage requirements
by 70 per cent.
-» WWw.ptW.CO.uk/2z33365

:•'.' www.pcw.co.uk

Your feedback, our opinions

LETTERS

Send your letters to The Editor, PCW,

Incisive Media, 32-34 Broadwick Street, London,

W1A 2HG Send your email to letters@pcw.co.uk

Whose PC is it anyway?

Can someone tell me please who owns
my computer? Or, more correctly, who
decides when I'm allowed to use it? I
bought a new laptop a few months ago
with the Vista operating system and 1
don't seem to be in control of it.

I'm referring to the intrusive
behaviour of Vista, which seems to
make its own mind tip about installing
updates. 1 use my laptop every few
days, and each time it is turned on it
tries to install a set of updates. Today
I've discovered some new alarming
behaviour: it will make its own mind
up when to restart as part of this
process. Never mind that I was editing
a spreadsheet and had unsaved changes
- Vista must upgrade so often the users
(and the changes) must go. I was out of
the room at the time and came back in
just as it was kicking me off - too late.

1 think I've found out how to stop
this, but was it really necessary in the
first place? Was the software so very
badly written that it. needs a daily
update? If not, what is it doing?
I haven't noticed anything new
at the end of all this -just a lot
of lost time when what I
actually wanted to do was
work. My car doesn't take itself
off for a fuel injection upgrade;
I don't recall my toaster going
back for a super bronze slice
mode upgrade. Why is my PC
subjected to this unwelcome
behaviour?

This doesn't stop with Vista.
I can understand my ant i- virus

software needing updates, but the
laptop supplier also has software on
there that updates itself. It doesn't
seem to be alone. Who gets the right
to do this and where does it end?

Just because speedy access to the
internet means that so It ware authors
can do this, it doesn't mean they
should. Some kind of opt-in rather
than opt-out system might be
appropriate: perhaps the settings
for this kind of behaviour could be
put in one place, with a big red 'No'
box close to hand.
Laurence Barker

Nigel Whitfield replies: The internet can
certainly make it much easier for software
companies to distribute fixes- but you're not
alone in wondering if that means they never
finish their products. With so many security
issues online, most companies would argue
[licit automatic updates are a necessity - but
perhaps there is a need for a middle way, or
more intelligence in the system.

Vista rot only makes up its own mind about installing
updates, It can also restart without the user's consent

WHY PAY MICROSOFT?

I .nil a hit surprised at your
answer to Graham Siewan's
letter in. your January 2009 issue,
when he complained about the
difficulty in finding a pre-iostalled
Linux computer. Rather than
chase around various
manufacturers, a unpromising
on your (the consumer's) needs,
the simple answer is to buy the
compute] I hat meets ymu

requirements, lire it up, refuse

I lie Microsoft licence, install the
operating system you want and
claim a refund from the Microsoft
original equipment manufacturer.
A lot of people have done this.
Why should consumers be
forced to pay what amounts to a
lax on computers tu Microsoft
when they don't need to? If
enough people ask lor a refund
on the Windows licence then

manufacturers will be forced to
offer alternative operating
systems to cater lor the needs of
the consumer ratber tbaD the
needs of the manufacturer or
Microsoft.
Terry Pike

Nigel Whitfield replies: Yes, you can
refuse to accept She licence to install
Windows, but we suspect it will tttke
an awful tot of people demanding

www.pcw.co.uk

^i Unless otherwise stated, letters sent to the Editor. PCW team or contributors
will be considered for publication. Letters may be edited for clarity or length.

Virgin Mobile
Broadband does
not support
emails sent
via SMTP

refunds to make a difference.
Linux may have many USetS, but
even if they all bought a new laptop
and asked for a refund, it still
probably WClildn 'I be enough 10
persuade many manufacturers to
change their ways,

BROADBAND FIXES

For a long time I have suffered
tosses of internet connection
which could only be solved by
rebooting my router, I have also
noticed a background hum on the
telephone.

[ asked my wile if we still
had the phone that used to be
plugged in elsewhere so I could
try that. She produced it, with
the microfilter still attached.
The penny dropped and I simply
exchanged mi cm Niters. Results
are a quieter phone and reliable
internet connection.

If any reader suffers similar
problems -don't forget the
microfiller!
Jonathan Beard

BROADBAND WOES

In the news section of January's
issue I read that Virgin Media
Broadband customers can get a
1GB mobile broadband deal for
£5 per month.

I work away quite a bit so £5
per month will pay for itself in no
time, compared with extortionate
hotel Will and dial-up charges.

I ordered two Virgin Mobile
Broadband dongles (for me and

my wile), which arrived the next
day. I inserted the Sim card and
plugged the dongle into my
laptop. It installed its software but
il would not connect. Virgin's
technical support blamed Norton
Internet Security and said they
were working with Symantec on
the issues. A lew tweaks oi the
firewall later and I had il running
nicely at 3.6Gbits/sec on HSDPA;
not as fast as cable at home, bul
perfectly acceptable for keeping in
touch while staying at a hotel.

I ben I composed a new email
to a Iricnd and pressed send. I
waited, and waited, and watted...
until ii limed out. Virgin was
baffled bin again pointed the
finger at Norton Inlernel Security.
The Symantec remole assistance-
chap played with my lirewall
sellings bin nothing worked.

Next day I uninslalleri Norton
Internet Security and did some
investigating. 1 send emails
through Tesco (mail.tesco.net) and
BT i smtp.buonnect.com t, and
Outlook could not log on to
either ol these when using the
Virgin dongle. What about
Virgin's own mail server? Even
via smtp.ntlworld.com (which is
now owned by Virgin) il could
not log on to send an email.

Virgin was stumped. Tesco said
it wasn't surprised because it
actively blocks some ISPs. BT
blamed Virgin and offered me its
own dongle for £17.99 a month.

So. reluctantly, I had lo return

the dongles in virgin. 1 emailed
Virgin this sequence ol events
and asked lo be informed when
il bad resolved the issue.

This evening Virgin phoned
me to say that sending emails via
SMTP is not supported. Il doesn't
know why, and ii doesn't know
if this will change. "We only
support wch browsing. You'll
have to use web mail."

So, Pop3/SMTT email users
beware - Virgin Mobile
I J road ha rid is not for you.

Steve Bailey

FREE TO ROAAA

In Ihe mobile broadband group
test {PCW. February 2009) you
highlight the risks of roaming,
stating that international dala
charges can be expensive - £6
per megabyte on the 3 network.
However, in some countries
3 charges nothing exlra for

international broadband roaming
on pay-as-you-go. You will get
to use the data allowance you
have paid lor as if you were
still in the UK. On the 3 network
this is called "3 like home' for
obvious reasons,

1 have used it in Hong Kong
and can confirm it works exactly
as it is meant to, saving my
company lots ol money compared
with using hotel broadband
connections. II does not work in
mainland China, but it
your travel plans include Italy,
Denmark, Austria, Ireland,
Sweden or Hong Kong, this could
be a real moneysaver and an
excellent alternative to the rip-off
roaming charges that your piece
highlighted. Other mobile
operators take note.
Paul Trowbridge

PROGRAMMING BASICS

I have a program written in
Quick Basic 4.5, which I last ran
in 1996 on a computer now
long gone. My nice new machine,
with Vista Home Premium and
a 22in LCD monitor, will not
run QB4.5 as it "does not support
lull-screen mode".

The program produces
solutions lo filling the
(leptiamond Snowflake (draw
a hexagon made from 24
equilateral triangles, then
surround it with six more such
hexagons) using the 24
lleptiamonds that can be
produced using seven triangles.
These 24 pieces are stored in
their 246 possible altitudes,
inserted into the pattern
following complex rules for

CLARIFICATIONS & AMPLIFICATIONS

• Duo to a technical

included in the April 2009

pro hi em, we were unable

CD edition.

to include the fea lured

tree game 'Azteca' on the

• In our review of Nav N

CD edition of PCW's

Go iGo 8 (PCW, Christmas

February issue. We

200S, p97) we staled thai

apologise for (his

it does not support

omission. The full game is

postcode entry. This was

available for download

incorrect, as partial

from http://tinyurl.com/

postcodes (first four

8d6gar. ft will also be

digits) can he entered.

•' www.pcw.co.uk

INTERACTIVE letters

■ •7

Norton
Internet Security

Secunly tor the fast ol Us

Installation of Norton's
Internet Security 2009
doesn't always go
according to plan

selection, then when the
pattern is filled the coded results
are output and another solution is
sought. Repeat thousands irf
times, not all in one run.

f have a library ol more than
50,000 solutions found manually
over 40 years and some hundreds
found by the few runs of my
program. 1 would like to know
how many there actually are.

Is there a more modern
Basic I can investigate? 1 have
seen a 2002 version of
VisLialbasic.net which appears
to be solely oriented to handling
hits of infonnauon entered in
dialogue boxes and the like,
not what 1 want. I said 'Basic'
as that is the programming
language 1 know, but I'm very
willing to try anything,
Roy F Fear

Nigel Whitfield writes; Over to the
readers? Besides Visual Bask, what
other languages might suit the job?
And are there any mathematicians
among our readers who may already
know the answer?

FUN WITH NORTON

Here's the the actual process
for installing Norton Internet
Security 2009: The CO Atuortms
and fnstallshield starts Installation
of the Rcaliek AC 97 Audio
Driver. I can't believe my eyes, so
I insert the CD again and, yes, it
starts installing the audio driver.
So, I browse to the Setup, exe file,
double-dick and enter the
Product key. After a while an
error message is displayed

stating that a vital
dll has not been

installed. I download
SymFix_l002-l
from Norton and
have to restart my
PC. Installation
continues, but 1
h.ivr to entei I lie
Product key again.

The installer
reports that there is
less ih, in .i minute to
go and Mi. ii ii is "i 'oliecting
Error logs - Please wait". 45
minutes later it looks as if the
process has Iro/en, bin then the
installation tails and recommends
a retry.

Installation continues and I
leave it overnight. It fails, so 1
download the Notion Removal
tool. The Knowledgebase
warns that Win lax data should
be backed up and that it will
also remove the Norton System
Works on my PC.

When [ ran the Norton
Kern ma I tool, it finds the win fax
program and stops. I have to
uninstall Win fax manually.

When I re-nm the installation,
il soil lails. Si? I.i r I have gone
from a working system -
although with an expired
subscription - to a system with
no AV protection, no Winfax
and no System works.

There were no relevant
items in the Knowledgebase,
although there was our thai
related to a failure to insuill on
an I II' Laptop inula I IP Recover)
Manager (I don't have either).
This required that the Norton
Installer folder be deleted,
There's nothing to lose so 1
decided to rename this folder
and retried installation. A
miracle occurs, Norton Internet
Security installs! Now all I have
to do is reinstall all my other
Symantec applications.

Suieli. Norn si have tried

installing over a previous version?
Even its lool - whk Ii removes all
trace of any Notion installation -
fails to work properly. The

one-minute installation has now
taken about Five hours and
resulted in the loss of several
clumps of hair.
Alec Bowman

MORE NORTON FUN

A couple ol days ago. I found
ill. il my 70G13 drive, which
normally has about 25GB ol
stuff, bad only about 10GB of
free space left. The reason? The
N'pruteet folder had been loading
up since the beginning oi
October with dud files that
could neither be read nor
deleted - a total of 2'JGR. This
could only have been caused by a
failure of Norton programs to
execute correctly since I am not
aware of any other instance ol
dud files being created.

An immense amount ol time
on the phone i\ illi Symantec left
me no further forward -as lar as
Symantec was concerned
unreadable lilts under Windows
XP had never occurred before.
Strange, then, that punching [he-
appropriate Windows error
message into Google led me to
Di'lim l'ile.e\e. which was able lo
give me my 29GB hack.
Stephen Younger

FIGHTING THE FIGHT

On reading last month's issue of
PCW, I came across Barry Fox's
column and had my usual
reaction: "Oh no, what's lie
writing about now?" I'm not
Barry Fox's biggest Ian, but 1
found his article about his light
with Dell over a sub-standard
projector oddly heartwarming.

It's sad that ordinary
consumers have to threaten
court action to get satisfaction
from such big- name companies,
,ii id ral her gives I he lie hi this
'we lake your comments
seriously' chatter.

My experience with the small
claims court was also positive,
[hough it had nothing to do with
computing. Computing and
personal computing is dogged by-
poor software warranties - when
was the last time you took back a
copy of Windows because it was
not "satisfactory, fit lor purpose,
free from delects or durable"?

So, instead it is especially
importani to hold man u fact urers
to account for poor hardware so
that they up their game. Don't let
them gel away with il.

Cheers, Barry!
Andrew Ircha

^C WIN

Next month's prize for the letter of the month is
a Logitech Audio hub

The Audioliub provides premium audio in a compact notebook
station. The space- saving design combines a powered three -port
USB2 hub with a 15W speaker system featuring high excursion drivers
and an innovative three -chamber design with integrated subwoofcr.

With a telescopic body and webcam stand, it can be adjusted to
suit most laptops and monitors, and the USB-atidio support can give a
welcome boost to the sound capabilities of many portables.

For more information on the Audiohub and other Logitech
products visit www.logitEth.com.

www.pcw.co.uk

£ 75,000

,E DAMAGE TO YOUR SYSTEM

-SEE WEBSITE <1R PK!i<'' I HI I ' iW i

BLACKOUT

30 MILLION AP

CUSTOMERS STILL HAV

POWER. DO YOU

Think of all that you rely on your
computer for: personal and business
files, financial information, broadband
access, videos, photos, music, and
more. Increasingly, computers are
the hub for managing our lives. And
more people rely on APC to protect
their hardware and data than any
other uninterruptible power supply
(UPS) brand.

Why is APC the world's best selling
power protection? For 20 years, we
have pioneered power protection
technology. Our Legendary

Reliability® enables you to save your
data, protect your hardware, and
prevent downtime. It also guards
against a power grid that is growing
less reliable every day.

According to the Department of
Energy, electricity consumption
will increase by 40% over the next
10 years. Yet today, investment in
utilities is at an all-time low. It's a
"perfect storm" for computer users,
one that makes APC protection even
more essential.

APC has a complete line of power
protection solutions to suit a range
of applications. Already an APC user?
Get the latest replacement battery
cartridge for your unit or upgrade to a
newer model.

riori ool why 30 million pssple
don 't need to worry about losing
iter dm to porta problems

Visit http://promo.3pc.con1

Enter Key Code 72242v

Call 0845 0805034 • Fax 0118 903 7840

APC Solutions for Every Level of Protection:

Home

Best value battery
backup and surge
protection for
home computers.

Home Office

Complete protection
fur home and small
business computers.

Small Business

High-performance
network power protection
with best- in-class
manageability for servers.

Legendary Reliability"

©SODS' American Power Conversion Corporation Ail trademarks are owned by Schn-flifiar Decx* inclines .-SAIL , Amerca" Pcwe r ~si>e r *ioi C-rpcsi ~r. c- Lhe/ a.N;:atec companies. All wiser iraOerrarts are prpp*ny of their respective owners
BK2B7EHJK APC UK ■ Unit 1 r frcund floor, 250 South 0&K Way, Gr«?n Park, H&ading. BG2 BUG

INSIDE INFORMATION < INTERACTIVE

Piggy in the middle

hardware@pcw.co.uk

You '11 have to copy the professionals and use a disk-hogging
intermediary format to edit some high- definition video

High-definition video may look great, but it
has been responsible for a fair share of
headaches. Hirst there was confusion over
the ED readiness of early models,
followed by uncertainty over pre-recorded HD
content. Now comes a third wave of frustration
wilh the increasing adoption of HD camcorders and
their tough requirements for editing and playback.

High-end camcorders have captured HD for
some time now, but they've generally been used by
videopMes or professionals who understand their
specific requirements. Over the past year, many
consumer camcorders have switched from standard
to high-definition capture, as have a number of
the movie modes on digital still cameras.

rf you've only ever played recordings back
from your camcorder on its screen or directly
connected to a TV, you'd be forgiven lor thinking

'Throwing hefty processing muscle at the

problem may not help. So what do pros do?'

everything's hunky-dory. But you're being lulled
into a false sense of security by your camcorder's
dedicated processing which is designed for
smooth, effortless playback. Transfer [be same
footage to yotir PC for editing or viewing and
your HD dream could come grinding 10 a hall.

The problem is the compression used by
consumer HD cameras. Manufacturers are loud
of telling us how an HD frame contains up to five
times more detail than standard definition, but
in real terms that means five times more data to
handle - and thai means applying greater or more
efficient (but complex) compression.

The HDV standard employs MPEG-2 to cram
HD (albeit at slightly squeezed 1,440x1,080 pixels)
into the same bit rate as old standard-definition
DV systems. The newer AVOID standard shares a
similar maximum bit rate to DV but exploits the
Complex 11.264 format to deliver great -looking
footage captured at 1,920x1,080 pixels.

In terms of playback, most modern PCs should
handle HDV tiles fairly easily, but AVCHD footage
is roughly equivalent to Blu-ray movies,
demanding powerful processors and graphics
chipsets with dedicated acceleration.

Editing is another matter. Even if your
application is able to understand the HD formats,
i lie experience will he different from editing
standard-definition DV content. Scrubbing back
and forth to find an editing point can become
unresponsive, while previewing can be choppy.

Throwing hefty processing muscle at the
problem may not help either. 1 recently rebuilt
my main PC with a Quad Core Extreme
processor, 6GB of Ram and a striped Raid array.
Editing HDV became almost bearable, fun 11,264
remained intolerable. So what do the pros do?

The answer lies with the files themselves.
MPEG-2, and in particular H.264, were never
designed for editing. They're meant for efficient
acquisition and storage in a portable device. Pros
wouldn't dream of editing with them in their
native [ormat and instead transcode them into a
larger but less demanding intermediary format.

Apple's Pinal Cut Pro already offers its
Prores 422 intermediary formal. Pro Windows
users rely on companies such as Cineform
that offer intermediary conversions that plug into
programs including Adobe Premiere, At the time
ol writing, budget options targeting consumers
were thin on the ground, but they will come.

An alternative to the time-consuming process
of transcoding previously captured video is to
regrab it io real lime using a more appropriate
compressor. Black Magic Design's Intensity card
can capture footage over HDMI and store it in a
more editing-friendly Motion .JPEG formal.

But anyone hoping to match their previous
workflow for DV, where footage could be
captured and edited quickly in its native format,
should think again with HD. Beelipg up your
hardware may allow you to come close with
HDV but AVCHD and other H.264 formats
demand an additional stage where they're
converted into something more friendly.
Intermediary formats have long been a (act of
life for pro editors and now consumers will also
need to adopt this extra stage or find editing
software that includes it.

As AVCHD becomes more prevalent and
normal people start trying to edil their footage,
manufacturers will soon realise thai new tools
are needed for the job. PCW

•' www.pcw.co.uk

INTERACTIVE > straight talking

The economic downturn may at least force IT firms to sharpen
up their acts and start treating their customers with respect

Pollyanna always looked on the h right
side. So she'll be seeing the economic
crunchdown as a wonderful opportunity
to shake up the IT industry.
Wc are no longer buying for the sake of buying,
or upgrading out of curiosity - we need persuading
to pay. Those people in sales, marketing and PR
will only keep their jobs if they starl showing
some interest in what they are selling.

The threat of Linux has already made
Microsoft face reality by reprieving XP and
sidelining Vista by promoting Windows 7. Open
Office is undermining the price structure for
Microsoft Office. Filemaker for Windows is far
easier to use than Access but over-featured and
over-priced for many users. If the credit crunch
brings a more affordable, stripped -down version
of Filemaker, Microsoft will be in more trouble.

'We are no longer upgrading for the sake of
curiosity - we need persuading to pay'

It can't be long now before Symantec wakes
up to wonder how any consumer can work out
which of the many similar but different Norton
protection packages to buy. Symantec will also
have to rethink its crazy pricing structure that
makes buying online, and then struggling 10
burn an emergency boot disc, no cheaper than
buying a boxed version with Recovery' CD.

In the US aggrieved customers have
started legal anion because some Symantec
software, such as Norton 360, insists on the
removal of other Symantec software, such as
Norton Utilities, lolo's System Mechanic is
busy filling the market gap created by
Symantec's marketing.

1 have been looking for the perfect backup
program since Norton Ghost abandoned the
bomb-proof trick of dropping the PC out of
Windows and into Dos to make an exact Copy of
I he C drive. Several colleagues recommended
Acronis. Maybe, but the company first needs to
look at its customer support service. When 1 tried
True Image Home 2009 1 found a big difference
between the way privileged press and paying
customer queries are answered.

The Acronis press office provided answers
fast, but when I put a consumer question (on

problems creating the backup Secure Zone and
using a wireless mouse with the resale software]
the Acronis support service took six weeks 10
come up with half a reply and blamed the delay
on "problems with our email database".

Acronis' press officer apologised and promised
"improvements to our customer support services".
Alter a couple of months I played consumer
again, asking why my True Image remains idle
when told to nuke a backup. After more than
two weeks 1 am still waiting for help.

Seagate recently sent a 1 .5 TB hard disk with
onboard encryption to secure stored data, but my
PC would not recognise the disk. The factory-
sealed package contained a disk thai had never
been lorn tatted. More than a month later I am still
waiting for Seagate to exptaitt how the factory's
Quality Control had approved an unformatted disk.

Willi money tight, the price of printer ink will
become an even bigger issue. Even Epson admits
that the Piczo head system used on all its primers
will clog unless the printer is regularly used. Give
me Lexmark every time. They can Sit idle lor
weeks, and still deliver a perfect page.

The Fcnhullon is a nice money-saving idea from
a small company tor just CI 5. A big green button
sits by a PC and [Hits it to sleep with one press. The
blister packaging promises 'instructions inside' to
'plug in, click and starl saving'. Bui anyone who
just plugs into a USB port and clicks will only see a
window briefly pop tip on ihe PC screen and
disappear. Inside the pack the 'instruction' is a card
giving a website address. To make the Ecobulton
do its job the user must go to the website, register,
wait for an email and then download instructions
and software lor I hi' PC. The software then a',k^ !.:r
details oi the PC's power consumption.

I asked (or comment on ibis absurd obstacle
course. The suppliers "believed the sample sent
was missing instructions in error". Another one
arrived but it was just the same. 1 told them but
heard nothing- until a marketing person asked if
I was writing anything.

Yes. I'm writing thai in the current climate you
can no lunger expect to gel away v\ it)i treating
paying customers this way. PCW

www.pcw.co.uk

The NEW SAPPHIRE HD4B7D 1GB TOXIC

Hsmi

HIGH OflVMTHW MLILTIMifll* itaflPf ACf

Va|ini X cntilnif] is SAPPHIRE'S implRiiiem di ■■•■■
nl Vnii in Chambei Technology (Vi:i| Risi uitin
rfunBii hy SAPPIIIIH iwisi n year op. rhn Awmrl
Wiiiiiiiin Vei[i in x nnnluig efficiently ihumvh:;

bMl *,™„. ll... I?I»M n *«l ..■■ ...

iiinii:; hy ti unpin irhmiiliKi legmlmf with iIiihk
liunijii|iit!> mil liaii [sinks miii lull by 11 Iheimelty
i: ii ii 1 1 u 1 1 1! rl Inn oxhiiusliiiti nutsiilii llni iiiisi:
lliis hybiid solution ui ovules liultur. mum
nlfiiiiHiil mill quistfil i:nulnig limit i:iiiivi:iiliniml
cooling sihiiiIhhIs hvhiIbIiIk lnilny

^DMARK

SAPPHIRE H0487D TOXIC

♦ 1 Gil GOnRii. 2QQ tin mmiiuiy mierface
♦l/IHJuifiiil IhiBf Dl UVI I i III91V
♦HnnnlX® ID 1

♦ All HAI1FIIN H04U7I1 Cora Clock /HIIMH/

♦ I GO GOne DveiClnckud to tOUOMIb

♦ 11*1 [xoriisst 7 U :;ii|i|liiil

♦ IIIIMI i;nm|ilmiil - / I A111I111 I'haminl Sii|i[iiul

EON

HUM
GRAPHICS

'I A

TECH

^03§®

Bsssaeisi

'•'■' www.sapphiretech.com

INTERACTIVE > kewney@large

ewne

gjykewney@gmail.com

Boom time at the corner shop

A new PC can work out cheaper in the long run than fixing
an old one. So why is the local repairman flourishing?

The past two years have seen a steady
demand for the services of those unlikely
looking shop front windows plastered with
signs printed out on A 4 paper, one letter
per sheet, proclaiming their skill at making,
selling and repairing PCs and mobile phones.
I wish I lonld explain llieir sumss lully.

Attitudes to computer repairs seem to be
'rather illogical, Captain', as Star Trek's Spock
would have said. With quite powerful computers
now available for about £300, you'd think it
would he cheaper to buy a new one. Why would
you keep a four-year-old steam- powered banger
going? Any fix is unlikely to be permanent;
something else will go wrong, and by the time
you've fixed thai and had ami! her breakdown
you'll have got rid of more of your money than a
new machine would have cost. And anyway, the

'The local repair shop has been flourishing
longer than the economic downturn'

old one will drain your life savings away in
electricity charges, while the new one will he
better and cheaper to run.

Hut to someone with only £5(1 to spare, the
cost of a new machine is irrelevant. You haven't
got I lie money, so you spend what you can on
repairs. This does not lully explain Ibe rise of the
local repair shop because it has been flourishing
for longer than the economic downturn. There's
another reason, and I think it has to do with
increasing computer phobia - and that, I'm afraid,
I attribute to the overweight operating system.

Consider the i Phone, which is of course a
species of computer. It's got limitations {obvious
ones as well as less obvious) and you certainly
can't run Microsoft Word on it. But it's got
access to all your contacts on the planet with
email, it can surf the web, organise your
appointments, and even keep your favourite
tunes and videos for long journeys.

Now, I can think of a lot of reasons why you
might not want to buy an iPhone and throw
away your computer. The price was certainly a
problem with the first model; the monthly cost is
another. But, according to computer forensics

expert Jonathan Zdziarski, i I'll ones are replacing
notebooks and desktop computers among people
who have an urgent need for mobility.

Zdaarski, who has to analyse computers
belonging to criminals, loves the i Phone because
"it's very, very popular with small-time drug
dealers, who need something to work with in
the field". And also because, for several reasons,
U records all sorts of things you simply
wouldn't believe, virtually permanently, in its
memory - even if you think you've deleted
them. Hut that's another story. Por now, I think
the lesson is that, very soon, many ol the rest
oi us - who aren't drug dealers or criminals - will
be seeing the virtue of having everything in a
pocket, not on a desktop. Devices the size and
shape of the i Phone will become commonplace.

But we will take a long time to dispense with
PCs. They store huge amounts of data. We may
not need it all, but we aren't ready, socially, to
give it all to commercial data storage agencies or
to delete it. And so PCs have to be kept going.

There is a better way. This is the time to
look further into the future - dump the desktop
and buy a modern multi-core laptop. They are
just hitting the market; they use less power than
you would believe: they are affordable in power
costs; and they won't need to be repaired every
three months, either.

The only problem is, they will still have to run
one of today's scary, complex operating systems -
and as long as they do that, ordinary people will
still hire those guys from the corner shop every
lime they hit trouble they don't understand.

I hope you all got a good bargain in the
posl-Xmas sales and already have a laptop
that will see you through the next two years.
I hope also that you didn't gel an extended
warranty in the hope of avoiding repair problems
because if you did you were probably done,
whatever you paid for the PC.

Leaving aside the question of whether or not
these warranties are a rip-off, you now have the
risk that the company behind them might go
bust. More retail failures are predicted, and
computer resellers are no less vulnerable than
oilier vendors. Hut your friendly local repairman
could hit boom time. PCW

www.pcw.co.uk

® Transcend

* Inlal XMP mcty

BuKXHtTiti EtimmtHHrwiyPninfi

2GB aX'eRam DDR3-1600

Authorized Distributors

2GB aAeRam DDR3-1800 Extreme Performance Memory

Unlock your gaming system's true potential with Transcend's aXeRam™ DDR3-1800
Extreme Performance Dual-Channel Memory Kits. Fully tested for low latency, stable
voltage operation with ample room for overclocking, aXeRam™ supplies the memory
performance you need to take your games to the next level.

1GB DDR2-800 Long-DIMM

2GB DDR2-667 SO-DIMM

LIFETIME

Warranty it

ntyCard

tor details end inttrtkre

Teh 0871 822 7500

Ernst 6flfc^roup@Mlp-ownfHJtefs,oo.iJi(

Tel: 01189128314

Website: www.weslcoaslra.uk

MQ1W4 355S00

Website: ww^ls.avnei.comi'uk/

Email: ace. sales ,uk@avnelxom

O Tjarcsncrrl KM- Al! irigttB msamsi T/niscewuf and Aid T-Bnsomd loqa am manned Iradon-arVi ci Trajircciiri hlsumnivi In. Prenyl ofcringL .tkI

simms

Tel. 01622852 800
Website; www.sfmms.co.tik
Email; salee@Silmms.co.uk

rj»J B UlKIl* MFWUl M<f< lM<

www.transcendusa.com

and com jm Indcfnariu; of ihiiic^naMi

OSwann

Advanced security made easy" 4

SimpleCCTV

for Home & Business

Are you protecting
the things you love?

plug&play
security

plug&play I professional
wireless I security

dvrs &
monitoring kits]

baby
monitoring

ip network
cameras

^/ Easy to use, connect to your TV

y/ Value for money solutions for home or business

yf Safeguard loved ones, protect property, deter thieves

Let Butch Sleep,

Swann's on Watch

Working in partnership with

i «M CRIMESTOPPERS
f^ .0800 555 111

Available from electronics retailers nationwide & leading online stores.

www.swannsecurity.com

amazoncouk

DATA RECOVERY

Rescue your files

Has some of your personal data gone
missing , been deleted or become damaged?
Jason d 'Allison explains how to get it back

Few things are more alarming than
losing valuable data. We've all
been there. Sometimes the loss is
accidental - maybe you've deleted
a luineh ol holiday snaps in the
mistaken belief that you've already backed
them np. Sometimes the loss is sheer had
hick - perhaps a system crash has rendered
Windows unbeatable. And sometimes, sadly,
the loss is malicious- certain viruses can be
merciless in their destruction.

In this feature, we show you how to get
this missing data back. Hard disks, USB
memory sticks, even CDs and DVDs - there's
a good chance you can salvage stuff from all
of them. Where necessary we touch on
commercial solutions, but the main locus is
on tips and tools thai won't COS! you a
penny. We're all feeling the pinch, after all.
Chiefly, this leature is aimed at users of
Windows XI' and Windows vista (unless
stated otherwise, everything we discuss is
suitable for both), hut don't worry il you're
running something else - much of our advice
is relevant no matter what your choice of
operating system. We even squeeze in a
mention for Linux - in these enlightened
times, we'd never live it down il we didn't!

What a load of rubbish

It might seem obvious, but the first thing to
do when files go Awol is to look in the
Windows recycle bin. This is the holding
place on your hard disk where all uscr-

■ b^i H v;*

deleled data goes before Windows junks il for
good. By delault, the recycle bin in Windows
XP uses 10 per cent of each partition, up to a
per-parlilion maximum ot 1.99VAI. The bin
in Vista uses .10 per cent of each partition's
initial 40GB, plus five per cent of any space
thereafter. It yum disk is
one of those new 1 ,5TB
units, it's possible you could
be sitting on more than
75GB ol deleted data.

To access the recycle bin,
simply select its folder in
Windows Explorer
(alternatively, you cm
double-click its icon on the
desktop). Restoring a file
(or a whole lolder) isjusi a

t..»**^. 4Hn*»ivn

: mil

■WHBH

- ■ .■ T ■ ,

Introduced En Windows 95,
the recycle bin Is a Godsend

matter of right-clicking it and selecting
Restore. Make a note ol the file's original

location, however, as ilia! will also be the
file's restore location - yon don't want to find
yourself on a hunting expedition.

In Vista, il the original location isn't
shown, right-click one of Explorer's column
headings (Name or Size, for example) and
select Original Location.

Files only drop out of the recycle bin -
oldest lites firsi - when (here's no more room,
il'-. therelore possible thai every file you've
deleted is still iiuacl and available lor recovery.
Even so. if you want to make the bin bigger
by expanding the size of your salety net, riglu-
click the recycle bin's folder in Explorer and
select Properties. In Windows XI 1 , use the
percentage sliders to increase the space either
globally or per partition (no partition can
donate more than 3.y9GB), In Vista, use each
partition's 'Maximum size (MB)' box to enter
a new value (there are no limits).

•' www.pcw.co.uk

DATA RECOVERY

Below: As Active® Undelete appears to attest, shelling out money
doesn't necessarily guarantee greater success

In the shadows

Owners of Windows Vista have another way
or getting back old or deleted versions (if lilcs
and folders. Shadow Copy is available on the
Ultimate and Business editions, and
maintains periodic snapshots til ail files and
folders on your hard disk, ft does this daily or
whenever a System Restore point is created:
note that if yoti disable System Restore, this
feature won't work. Yon also need to make
sure that System Restore is enabled for all
your local drives - choose Control Panel,
System Maintenance, System then System
Protection, then check the relevant disks. See
page 35 for a slep-by-step guide.

Only the differences between versions are
stored, making it very efficient in terms of
disk space. The beamy of it is that yoti can
tevert to previous versions of a file, or

Above: Recuva is
just one of doiens
of free data-
recovery tools

recover lost files by browsing the previous
versions oi its containing lolder. To access
Shadow Copy, right-click on a file or tolder
and choose the Restore Previous Versions
entry in the context menu. Choose the
version of the file or folder yon want to
restore, then click cither the Restore or Copy
buttons. Of course, il yoti have files and
folders 1 1 ml haven't changed lot .1 Inn;.; time,
there may be no entries recorded, so it's no
substitute for a proper backup.

For other Vista edition users, the good
news is that Shadow Copy service is enabled
on Vista Home Basic and Premium as well.

Email of the species

What about deleted emails? Can they be
recovered? Well, in general, emails are
stored not as individual files but as entries in
a huge database. When an email gets
deleted, its entry in that database remains
intact - it's merely tagged with a deletion
flag, ensuring the email no longer gets
displayed. Flagged emails are only blitzed
for good when the database is compacted
(to reclaim disk space or improve the email
program's performance). This is a manual
process that most users never undertake.

There ate plenty of utilities available that
will reset deletion flags, but we're not
aware of any that are free Take a look at
Zmcil (www.i-a-recovery.rom), priced at
S19.95 (£14), which works with databases
from Outlook, Outlook Express and
Thunderbird. Also consider Oisk Internals
Mail Recovery {www.rJiskinternals.coin) . At
S99.95, this is significantly more expensive.

but it can also handle emails deleted from
Windows Mail and Window Live Mail.
Thankfully, there's a free trial.

If you need to recover deleted emails,
you'll probably have to pay for it

but it's not directly user-accessible. However,
the Iree tool Shadow Explorer
.wivw.sfiaiiowexplorer.com) fixes this and enables
yon to make use of the feature.

Unfortunately, the only files that go to
the recycle bin are those deleted from hard
disks. Nothing goes there from sources such
as memory cards and USB memory sticks.
The bin won't help yon ii you've lost files
through virus infection or file-system
corruption, either. Nor will it help you if
you've recently emptied it.

Thankfully, It's not game over - far from it.
There are numerous programs available
to assist in raising data from the dead, and
many of lliem are free. Take Recuva
(www.ptw.co.uk/2187036), for example, l-xcept for
CDs and floppies, ttiis will try to restore deleted
files from almost anything - even MP3 players.

Like all undelete tools, Recuva works on
tfte principle lhal deleted files often don't get
erased - even if the host disk or device has
been formatted. Ttie file
system merely marks the files'
locations as Iree for nse -
the data will only be
truly wiped when those
locations get overwritten.
As soon as you realise
you're in trouble, immediately
stop using the disk or device
the files are stored on. Avoid
installing any recovery tools
ttiere, too, as yon might
overwrite the very data you're
hoping to restore. If the files
are on your main hard disk,
you may need to conned it
temporarily to another PC. A USB drive caddy
costing around E10 is a handy device for this
purpose.

www.pcw.co.uk

RESCUE YOUR PHOTOS See our Hands on
feature on page 140

DATA RECOVERY

Emergency services

Subjecting your hard disk to recovery
software is only sensible if it's in good
health. If it's rattling like a train or exhibiting
some other hardware fault (in severe cases.
of course, your PC might not ever
recognise its presence), further use could
cause additional damage. This is when you
need a specialist, a company that will
operate on the disk in a clean room

One such specialist - there are several
others - is Data Recovery Direct (www.
drd -uli.com}. This gives quotes of between
£294 (for a 40GB disk) and £742 {for a disk
over 5Q0G8) - steep but typical. Worth
investigating, though, is Rapid Data
Recovery (www.rapid-data.net), which, with
prices starting from £112, claims to offer
the cheapest salvage service in the UK It

also tackles unreadable memory cards and
USB sticks. For recovery of damaged optical
media, try US company Acodisc
(www.acodisc.com)

- , w . _,.

Deep pockets are required if you need to
ship your hard disk to a clean room

The easiest way to use Recuva is by
working through the wizard. With this, you
can specily what to scan lor (such as picture,
documents, or anythiug) as well as where to
look (such as on a USH memory stick, in a
given folder, or everywhere). If the scan fails
to unearth what you're after, try again bin
with a Deep Scan (which could take ages).

'Sadly, most file-recovery
utilities can't deal with
optical media - CDs, etc'

If you need more options — perhaps the
ability to scan for files with specific
extensions (,mp3, for example) - skip the
wizard and use the program's lull interface.
When a scan completes, you're shown a
list ol files, each with one of three traffic
lights: green means the File should be hilly
recoverable; amber means the file might Im-
partially recoverable; and red means the file
is probably lost. Orange and red files will
have been parity or totally overwritten. To
proceed, just tick the files you want, click
Recover, and choose a save destination
(make sure this is not on the disk or device
the tiles are being recovered from).

No free lunch?

Recuva is one of the best tools of its kind.
Even so, if it doesn't do the business for you,
give one of the following a whirl: Soft Perfect
File Recovery (www.softperfect.com); Cilary
Undelete (www.glafysoft.cotn); and PC Inspector
File Recovery (www.pcinspector.de). There's also
a wealth ol other tree recovery software
available from PCW's own downloads portal
I www.pcw.co.uk/downloads) .

Sometimes, "1 course, ymi gel tvhai you
pay for. We decided, therefore, to pit Recuva
against Active® Undelete 7.0 [www.active-

undelete.com), a popular commercial tool. Does
shelling out for a paid-for product increase
your chances ol success? Running both
programs in their respective deep-scan
modes, we searched a much -used 4GB
memory stick tor deleted images- files with
extensions ol .Limp, git, .pug, lil and jpg

Recuva found 330 items (excluding
those measuring zero bytes): using its
traffic light scheme to indicate the chances
ol recovery, 276 were flagged as green,
16 amber and 38 red. We tried them all in
Faint. We managed to open 26 1 ol the green
files and. surprisingly, six of the amber files.
Even more surprisingly. I 5 ol the red files
were lully readable, loo.

Active®' Undelete found 5 39 items (again,
excluding those measuring zero bytes): 428

were described as Recoverable and 1 1 1 were
labelled with a variety of brief damage reports.
Disappointingly, we could open only 235 of
the green files - a colossal 193 were dull'.
Eight of the damaged files opened, though.

Other commercial tools might give better
mileage, of course, but on balance Active®
Undelete left us a bit underwhelmed. Its
recovery score was 243, while Recuva's
was 282, That's quite a difference. Is it
worth S39.99 (about £28)? For basic file
recovery, you're probably best keeping
your cash in your pocket.

For non-basic stuff, though. Active®'
Undelete has a neat trick: it can scan
not only lor complete liles but also lor
orphaned data patterns. So ii your tile
system is severely trashed, the program
can unearth files that no longer even have
records - no names, no sizes and so on. The
Professional version ($54,95) can also restore
deleted partitions, white the Enterprise edition
($79.95) adds the ability to rebuild Raid
configurations and recover data from remote
network drives, including network -attached
storage (Nas) boxes.

In a spin

Sadly, most file-recovery utilities can't deal
with optica! media - CDs, DVDs and so on.
That's largely because optical discs use
different file systems to devices such as hard
disks and USR sticks (ISO 9660 or UDF,
typically, itistead of Fat 16, Fat 32, or NTFS).
There are plenty of specialist tools available,
however. Have a crack at CD Recovery
Toolbox Free (www.pcw.co.uk/2t85399) and Iso
B u Ster ( www.pcw.co.uk/2 1 5 21 8 9 ) .

We tried Iso Buster, We took a CD-R
containing 250MI3 of data and used a
screwdriver to give it some impressive
Scratches. Windows wouldn't read the disc at
all, but Iso Blister successfully inspected the
file system and then displayed a list of files
,uid folders. We pur a ikk against the lot.

While it's not
quick, Iso
Buster can
sometimes
retrieve data
from CDs and
DVDs that
Windows
won't even
look at

8 www.pcw.co.uk

DATA RECOVERY

Left: UBCD4Win is a utility-
packed implementation of
Windows XP that runs straight
from CD

Below: Puppy Linux might be
less than 100MB In size but It's
no dog

< '- • 3*. \C:, *«n"—

_JL .• * :1 !* 'i ,{*, .*i.

-,B;.»«a —

tight-clicked, and selected Extract Objects.
Alter 12 hours, though, the process was less
than 25 per cent complete, so we clicked
Cancel and chose instead to rescue only the
CD's 1 3 photos. This scan took about 90
minutes: three of the photos safely saved to
disk were readable (one had corruption).

We tried the same test with Active©
Undelete 7,0 (one ot the few utilities to offer
both disk-based and optical-based recovery).
This found the CD's main title hot nothing
else, and CD Recovery Toolbox Free larcd no
better. If you're having no joy at all. start
again alter trying to fix some of the major
damage on the disc. For advice on doing that,
see Out Workshop on page 36.

Ultimate edition

Have you ever switched on your PC and
found that Windows no longer boots? Most
likely, the only damage is to the Windows
boot loader or master boot record. If you
connect your hard disk to another PC, you'll
be able to salvage your files from there.

However, if attacking your PC with a
screwdriver doesn't appeal, the answer is
UBCD4Win - the Ultimate Boot CD for
Windows. This contains its own cut -down
installation ot Windows XP. It runs directly
horn the CD, bypassing your hard disk, so it's
no matter if your usual Windows installation
is broken. Using one- of the included file-
managers, you'll be able to copy your files to
a memory stick, external disk, or DVD.

To get started, download UBCD4 Win's
builder I www.pcw.co.uk/2224907). This is what
creates the CD -just follow the instructions.
You will need an XP setup CD, though, It all
you've got is a manufacturer's recovery CD,
borrow a full disc from a friend (providing
you've got an appropriate XP licence, this is
perfectly legal). Also, if your own PC is out of
commission, you'll need to run the builder
on someone else's.

Once you boot up with URCD4Win
(remember to configure your Bios so your PC
boots up first from the CD and not the hard
disk), you'll see the familiar XP desktop.

There are more than 1 50 programs, all tree
for non-commercial use. Crucially, you've gol
a suile ol software for recovering deleted
I ili"> There are also lools foi lixiug Windows
start-up problems (Mbrb'ix, for example).

Doing it live

One snag with UBCD4Win is that it's only
intended lor user; ol Windows XP. You can

still use it if you're running Vista — though you
should avoid trying any of the boot-repair
toots - but to stay legal you need to own an
XP licence. If you don't have one. t]-y Vista-
based Vista PE (http://tfist3pe.ltel) or Microsoft's
Windows PP (www.sniputl.com/3k96k). There's
also ,i Linux-based version ol the Ultimate
Hoot CD available ,n www.ultirnatebootcd.tom - it
includes tools to read and write Files on
Windows NTI'S liard disks.

An option with no licence
restrictions is Linux, There are
hundreds of live distributions
available. These work similarly to
UB CD-I Win -they run directly
bom CD and don't need to be
installed. Any included file-
recovery lools won't work, as
they'll he designed for Linux's own
file systems jext 3, Reiser PS, etc),
but you'll have no difficulty
backing up undamaged data from
a shalted Windows installation.
Almost any Linux distribution will suffice,
but for recovery purposes you're better off
downloading one ot the small, frugal
offerings- they're quick to download and
quick to run. Try Puppy Linux (www.puppy
linux.org) or Damn Small Uuux (http://damn
smalllinux.org) - or both. Just be careful:
experimenting with different Linux distros
can quickly become addictive.

Prevention is better than cure

The best way to avoid losing data in the
first place is to back up. One option is to
create a scctor-by-scctor snapshot of your
entire hard disk If the disk subsequently
fails or you're the victim of a catastrophic
virus attack, you can have your Windows
installation, applications and settings all up
and running again in minutes - exactly as
they were when you made the snapshot.

If you're running Windows Vista
Ultimate, a solid snapshot tool is part of
the Backup and Restore Center. If you're
running something else, however, the

• 1M»WMBlCiL«

*- mii.i *?n

Malm***

■. .!

As Comodo proves, good backup software
needn't cost you the earth

best-in -class commercial product is

generally held to be Aeranis True Image,
version 10 of which is helpfully included on
this month's cover disc The best free
alternative is probably Self image
(http://selfimage.excelcia.org).

On a day-to-day basis, you'll want
software that backs up incrementally -
software that backs up all your files on its
first run but which then only backs up files
that have been added or changed. Again,
Vista can do this. In XP, there's Windows
Backup, though if you're a Home user
you'll need to install it manually from
your setup CD - look for Ntbackup.msi
under the folder Walueadd\Msft\Ntbackup.
Comodo Backup {www.pcw.co.uk/2224504) is
a good free option.

Nowadays, you can back up online, too.
The advantage is that your backups are safe
from damage, corruption and theft -
everything's stoted on robust, remote
servers. One of the leading providers is
Carbonite (www.catbonite.com), offering
unlimited storage for $49.95 (£34) per year.
Also consider tDrive (www.idrive.com) and
Mozy Home (http://moiy,tom), both of
which give 2CB of storage free.

www.pcw.co.uk

DATA RECOVERY

How to use Windows Vista's Shadow Copy

< v- ■■■■«■•

fifcton lytten Ate wd wofcigs

Rl>^M>t^rt(

nbMtainiptapiwi

*«mnF*awvj»4b*

^ Shadow Copy (or
I as it's sometimes
called, the Volume
Snapshot Service) is
quite likely something
you've never heard of.
For the most part, it
works silently in the
background, but that
makes it no less
fundamental to several
of Windows' core
features. For example,
it's used by the Backup
and Restore Center
(see Prevention Is Better Than Cure) and is also the backbone of System
Restore, Indeed, Shadow Copy and System Restore could be seen as two
sides of the same coin To open System Restore, click Start, type 'system
restore' in the Search box, then click the top link in the results list.

3 Shadow Copy
enables you to
revert to previous
versions of your
data files. Say
you've edited a
photo and clicked
Save instead of
Save As, wiping out
the original. As long
as a restore point
was made prior to
the change (either
automatically or manually), you can go back in time, reclaiming what
you've lost. To do this, right-click the given file (or folder) in Windows
Explorer and select 'Restore previous versions'. Up will pop a tab called
Previous Versions that lists all copies of the file that are available. If
you've made backups using the Backup and Restore Center, all backed-
up copies of the file will be listed, too.

2 As you're no
doubt aware.
System Restore
enables you to roll
back changes made
to system files
Restore points are
created automatically
every 24 hours, or
whenever you install
Windows updates.
new software, or
non-WHQL drivers.
You can also create
restore points
manually Personal
files aren't protected, however - that's where Shadow Copy comes in. At
every restore point, Shadow Copy makes backups of almost all the files
on your PC, Clearly, for this to work. System Restore needs to be
enabled. Click the 'open System Protection' link and ensure ticks are
beside the appropriate disk partitions.

4 If you're
presented with
multiple versions of
the same file, you can
use the Open button
to examine them in
turn. Once you've
found the one you're
after, highlight it
and click Restore
It's important to
remember, however,
that doing that will
overwrite the version of the file that currently exists. This can't be
reversed. If you want to retain both the previous version and the current
one, click Copy and save the previous version to a fresh location. If you
prefer, you can also drag the desired file off the Previous Versions tab
and into a location of your choice in Windows Explorer.

Shadow tipJorcrcom

5 Unfortunately,
there's a gotcha:
the Previous Versions
tab is only available if
you're running Vista
Ultimate, Business, or
Enterprise. It's not
present in Vista
Home Basic or Home
Premium, easily
Vista's most popular
editions. That sounds
like bad news, but

really it's not - Shadow Copy still exists and still quietly makes backups of
your files whenever a restore point is created. The only difference is that
the means of accessing those backups has been removed. Luckily, there's a
neat little tool you can download called Shadow Explorer
(www.shadowexplorM.com), which gives that access back

SSS5?

■van ■»

Mm — -

■ Jul i

= . =HSPLi

6 Shadow Explorer
works in a similar
fashion to Windows
Explorer: in the left-
hand pane is the
system's folder
structure and in the
right-hand pane are
the contents of the
currently selected
folder. At the top arc
dropdown menus for
choosing the partition
and restore point you
want to view. In addition to restoring previous versions, you can restore
files that you've now deleted (this is possible via the Previous Versions tab,
too, by searching for the deleted files m the copies of the folders
where they originally resided). To restore a file, right-click it. select
Export, then choose a save location

•' www.pcw.co.uk

DATA RECOVERY

How to repair optical discs

CDs and DVDs are surprisingly tolerant of abuse, but there comes a time when your game, audio or
movie discs simply won 't play at all due to dirt or scratches. Here's how to repair minor glitches

Iln many cases discs can't be read simply due to an accumulation of
dirt, grease and scuff marks caused by careless handling, as in the
image above. This stops the laser in the CD/DVD player being able to read
the data through the transparent plastic layer that's on the data side of the
disc Luckily, light scratches and abrasions on the data side of a disc can
usually be repaired. However, scratches on the label side of a disc (see
picture above right) are irreparable.

2 The first thing to try when you're having disc problems- even if you
think they're caused by a scratch or scuff mark- is a simple clean.
Cleaning and lightly polishing the play side of a disc is often ail that's
reeded. Inexpensive kits, such as Maplin's CD & DVD Cleaner & Restorer
Polish (£4.99 from www.maplill.co.uk), work well, but there are plenty of
others. Don't be tempted to wash the disc with detergent or tap water as
you could make the problem worse, or even damage the label side.

3 The Maplin kit contains a cleaning spray of ispropyl alcohol that you
spray onto the play side of the disc You should never use household
cleaners or abrasives After 30 seconds or so the alcohol dissolves grease
and grime, and you then simply wipe it off with the circular chamois pad.
Alternatively, you can use a clean, dry lint-free cloth. It's very important to
wipe the disc from the centre to the outside - don't wipe it in a circular
motion as this can make matters worse.

4 If cleaning doesn't fist the problems, polishing is the next stage. The
Maplin kit contains polish plus an application cloth and chamois. Apply
a few drops of the special polish and rub it in radially with the doth, let it
dry and then buff the disc with the chamois. This will restore most light
scuffs and abrasions. For deeper scratches you might need to resort to a
cleaner such as the Skip Dr (around £14). This is a contraption that uses
distilled water and a special resurfacing wheel that rubs the disc radially.

5 After spraying the disc with the cleaning fluid, pop it into the Skip Dr
and turn the handle clockwise until the disc has turned through a
complete revolution. Take it out, spray it again and repeat the process.
Afterwards take the disc out and dry it with the microti bre cloth provided.
You need to use the small buffing pad supplied to polish the disc. When
buffing, make sure the disc is resting on a clean, soft surface. If the disc is
badly scuffed you might need to repeat this process.

6 If none of these tips works, it's time for desperate measures. Brasso
metal polish has been used for polishing plastic for many years, and it
does work although it's a bit smelly. Using either the wadding version or
liquid with a soft cloth, rub the offending scratches with Brasso in a radial
direction from the centre of the disc until they smooth out. Let the Brasso
dry before polishing it off with a microfibre doth. If you can feel a scratch
with your nail, then you probably won't be able to fix it.

www.pcw.co.uk March 2C

we protect your digital worlds'

Today, 15.000 new internet threat; will be created to attack your computer system. Predicting and
intercepting future threats is what we do. In fact, ESET® Smart Security, with its industry-leading
ThreatSense 3 technology, provides faster, more precise, proactive protection against viral threats in
one fully integrated solution.

For a free extended fiO-day trial, visit www.eset.eo.uk/download and use promotional code PCW0901 - valid until 22-02-2009.

ESET

Smart
Security 2

Smart
Security

A New Way To Think Smart

ItoJ

Antivirus + Antispyware + Anttspam + Personal Firewall

C KM* tit' Wnjhinwvid Trii«r}rt!i!»dtoe*i«n*lm»ktiH(l5»um!i:'iiHniiiSsD<!i£t

PC Specialist recommends Windows Vista™ Home Premium

ft!

Core i7 Extreme

2L.Z4yy.00 incl VAT & Delivery"

Intel® Core™!? Extreme J7-96S (4 x 3,20GHz)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
6GB Corsair® XMS3 1333Mhz Memory
ASUS® P6T Deluxe Motherboard
300GB WD VelociRaptor® (10.000rpm|
1000GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7.20Qrpm)
20x Dual Layer DVD RW ♦ Ltglitscribe
2048MB Radeon HD 4870X2
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Music
101 OW Super Quiet Quad Rail PSU
ASUS® Triton 81 Pure Copper CPU Cooler
52 in 1 Memory Card Reader
Onboard 1W1 00(1 000 Gigabit LAN port
CooterMaster Cosmos S Case
1 yr RTB Warranty incl Free CoHect & Return

rintei;

THE WAY

«?3 nvrDiA

I it's mhwt to me plith

7T»1 SBa3

email:enquiries@pcspecialist.co.uk

you dream it...
we'll build it!

Perfor

Apollo GT Sli

£849.00 incl VAT & Delivery'

INTEL:- Cora 2 Quad Q3400 (4 X 266GHz)

Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium

4GB Corsair® XMS2 SOOMta Memory

ASUS® P5N-D Motherboard

500GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive (7,2O0rpm)

20 k Dual Layer DVD RW + Lightscribe

2x 512MB nVidta GeForce 9800GT <sli)

Onboard S Channel (7. 1 ) High Def Audio

600W Super Quiet Quad Rail PSU

ASUS® Silent Knight II CPU Cooler

52 in 1 Memory Card Reader

Onboard 1ft'1 00M 000 Gigabit LAN port

Stylish Silver'Biack Trident Case

Six USB Ports (2 Front 1 4 Rear)

2x 1394 Firowiro Port Onboard

1 yrRTB Warranty incl Free Collect & Return

Phenom 4870X2

ZL 1 i. lb. 00 Incl VAT & Delivery*

AMD® Phenom X4 9950 (4x 2.60GHz)
Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium
4GB Corsair® Dominator1066Mhz Memory
ASUS® M3A79-T Deluxe Motherboard
1 TB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7.20Qrpm)
BluRay ROM + 16x Dual Layer DVD RW
2048MB Radeon HD 4H70X2
Sound Blaster® X-FT™ Xtreme Music
700W Super Quiet Quad Rail PSU
Quiet Triple Copper Hea [pipe CPU Cooler
52 in 1 Memory Card Reader
Onboard 10/1 00/1 000 Gigabit LAN port
Stylish Black Aluminium Trigon Case
Six USB Ports (2 Front 14 Rear)
2 x 1 394 Firewiro Port Onboard
1 yr RTB Warranty incl Free Collect &

Apollo GTX

£.2545.00 incl VAT & Delivery

INTEL® Core 2 Extreme QX9770 (4 x 3,2GHr)
Genuine Windows® Vista Homo Premium
4GB CORSAIR® Dominator 1 0G&Mliz Memory
ASUS® Striker II Formula Motherboard
300GB WD VetociRaptop HDD (10,000rpm)
750GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7.200rpmJ
BluRay ROM ♦ 1Sx Dual Layer DVD RW
1024MB nVidia GeForce GTX280
Sound Blaster® X-Fi*** Xtreme Musk:
900W Super Quiet Quad Rail PSU
ASUS® Silent Knight II CPU Cooler
52 in 1 Memory Card Reader
Stylish Silver Aluminium Trigon Case
Six USB Ports (2 Front / 4 Rear)
2 x 1394 Firewire Port + Gigabit LAN Onboard
1 yr RTB Warranty incl Free Collect & Return

or call us on:

• Ti

tPrPUanrtri 5«*n mtijfct tj T print* CorMMfgrwlragyarMMlntit en rwjucrt) nt^ipvi Vi-wo fa JIuMiBtiuJi

i anhf. *H owning wvtfirn uippwpd «rc OEM

'' i^ B lHfl-ypVtt wf'i* '"'Af.i '\ i i < iVy < Ai h > VtM ' fl i ri 1 '" 'H < ^vlWii rili '- i«¥ ". ' ' i ' 1 ' ! > lic ' ifr

9 mattlu of the dile of nunhttt uuliMuil MsfMrntiM 41 1 HUD »mj p«jr no mm*. orp^»MMtf)fylMUkn«iuiof F349VixmmttclnavmmUlllA»rdllftar
■ . ^ul amount m •>* I ■«'' *> to* •< OnM"" u.lwviakuUwttloiiidtooraaiwrwnl CmlJl «i«<»|caln VIMkw«« U«l Tl!cl>>.tla«. '
- J (* s mi»iil»i:« Wm,^n,mc«Kim».«iWjl.<ii™iii»orn»ul,-4»ii*l'B

DO MORE WITH YOUR NETBOOK

Netbook know-how

Miniature laptops may be small, but they are capable of
much more than meets the eye, as Will Stapley discovers

■

■■

lien the first Eee
PC arrived in
2007, it caused
quite a stir, but
tew win] Id have

predicted just how popular netbooks
would become. With models from big
names such as Dell, HP, Samsung anil
Toshiba, there's no shortage to choose
Irorn and it's quite likely many of you
picked one up lor Christmas.

Rather than ottering powerful
processors, long battery life and a
wealth of features, netbooks provide
modest performance in an ultra-
compact chassis. In this feature, we'll
show yon what to look out for when
buying a netbook and, once you've got one,
how to get the most out ol it. We'll also lake
you through the must-have accessories lor
any netbook owner.

The processor

Given their low prices and small dimensions,
it should come as no surprise that netbooks
aren't the most powerful of laptops. Hut with
most models coming in a variety of flavours,
there are a number ol choices you need to
make. In contrast to buying a standard
laptop, the choice of processor is actually
very limited when purchasing.

While hilly Hedged laptops usually run
fast dual-core AMD or Intel processors,
netbooks have to he slightly more
Conservative in order to keep their prices
down, Intel is currently leading the netbook
processor charge with its N270 Alom
processor. Based on a 45nm fabrication
process and used by the vast majority ot
netbooks, the Atom is small and relatively
power- efficient with a 2.5 W thermal design
poinl (TDF). Its core speed ot 1 ,6GHz isn't
going to win any performance awards, but
neither is it particularly slow - it's powerful
enough to cope with what netbooks are
intended for. It's not all about Intel, though,
with Via offering its C7-M processor; MP's
Mini note 21 JJ is one netbook that runs off
this processor, with a core speed of 1.2 GHz.

As with most laptops, upgrading the
processor on a netbook isn't possible, neither
is any serious amount of overcloeking-
However, Intel recently revealed plans lor its

Intel's 45nm Atom Is currently the
most popular netbook processor

netbook CPU line-up,
with 32um chips expected to
arrive in 2010 {sec
www.pcw.co.uk/2232173 lor

more information).

Memory matters

Given the relatively small
amount of processing power,
most netbooks make do with
either 512MB or 1GB ol Ram.
and 1 1 you stick to bash
applications it is unlikely you'll
need any more. However, il you
start pushing your netbook by multitasking
or running memory-hungry applications, you
might find it starts lo complain. How easy it
is to upgrade the memory will depend on
your netbook- some just require a small
panel to be removed, others need a bit more
work. It's also worth checking whether
upgrading the memory voids your warranty;
early Asus models had a sticker warning
against installing more memory, but the
company then bowed to consumer pressure
and said the warranty wouldn't be affected.

I! you decide y ■ netboi 1 dors need a

memory upgrade, and you either get the
green light horn the manufacturer or don't
care about the warranty, you should lirst
find out how many Sodium] slots your
netbook has. Many only have one, which
will already be occupied. 1/ so, you'll need
in discard the current memory and, lor
example, buy a single 1GB stick to replace it.
It's also important to check Ihe maximum
memory supported by Ihe net book's
motherboard. If you have trouble
finding this information, try
Crucial 's Memory
Advisor tool at
www.outial.com/uk

Store more

When it conies to storage,
netbooks cither feature a traditional hard
disk or a solid-state drive (SSDj. Using plash
memory, SSDs have no moving parts and
are therefore more durable than standard
hard disks. Another advantage ol SSD,

though one that's up for
debate, is speed. A netbook with
an SSD will, in general, boot faster than a
traditional hard disk-based model, bin it
all depends on the make and model of the
hard disk - some cm give ss;i>, a run
for their money. At present, the main
drawback of SSDs is their price per gigabyte.
For example, an Acer Aspire One with
an 8GB SSD can be purchased for around
LI 99, but for the same price you can get
the same Aspire One with a relatively
gargantuan 120GB hard disk - we know
which we'd prefer.

Of course, you can always boost the
storage of your netbook at a later stage. Even
with a 120GB hard disk, if you use it for
more than just surfing the web at id emailing
it won't rake long before you've eaten up all
the storage. The neatest way to add more

You can boost the

memory of most

netbooks, but

be sure to

check the warranty

won't be invalidated

SSD might be the latest
technology, but the drives are
expensive compared to
traditional hard disks

www.pcw.co.uk March 2C

DO MORE WITH YOUR NETBOOK

storage is to
upgrade the hard
drive itself, but
depending on the make of your netbook tliis
might be either tricky or almost impossible.
It's therefore far easier to use some lorin ol
external storage, such as a USB hard drive. A
160GB USB haul drive costs around £60 and
most will draw all the power they need from
the USB pott, so you won't need to drag
around a separate power supply.

Operating system

Perhaps the biggest decision to make when
purchasing a netbook is which operating
system to choose. Being tree and with
relatively low hardware requirements,
Linux is an obvious choice lor a low-cost

netbook. With a wide selection of free
applications such as Ope]] Office and
MozilJa. Linux is able to cater for most
netbook users' needs.

Some net books come with their own,
tailored versions of Linux distributions,
but you can always download
and install new

applications. Although
1 1 lis requires .1 hit oi
Linux knowledge,
there are plenty
ul online resources
to help you out
Mlic lorums .11
www.linuxforums.org

are a good place to
start and there are
plenty of other mortel-
speeific forums around).
Certain netbooks are
only available with Linux,
while with others you have
the option of choosing
Windows Xi' when you
purchase - obviously, the latter
is more costly. Which operating
system suits you best will depend on your
needs. Those wanting to do little more than
word process, browse the interne! and send
emails should be happy with a Linux
operating system - it won't look quite as
pretty as XP, but it gets the job done.

However, if you want to install a lot of
third-party software and don't want any
driver problems when adding' hardware, XP
is a safe choice. Needless to say, the current
crop ol" netbooks baulk at the hardware
requirements of Windows Vista and. unless
you're happy with a slow netbook, we
wouldn't recommend trying to install it.

It is possible to install a different operating
system 1 either Linux-based or XP) onto a
netbook, but it isn't always plain sailing.
We've had readers emailing in saying that
il's difficult to revert the
nelbook to its original slate,
with the second operating
system clinging onto disk space
and not letting go. If you want
to install a new operating
system, it's worth considering
going down the virtnalisation
route. It might sound a little
daunting, but virtnalisation is
easy and there are various Iree
packages available (see Virtual
os box, rie.lit).

Battery life

Despite not being particularly
powerlul and only having to illuminate
relatively small screens, netbooks often

The Asus Eee PC Is small and quick

The virtual OS route

If you want to install a new operating
system on your netbook, it's worth
trying it out first using vi realisation.
A virtual operating system will act in
exactly the same way as a physical one,
but it will be completely independent,
so it won't affect your primary
operating system or any of the data on
your netbook This way. if you later
decide it's not for you, you can quickly
get rid of it, without any lasting effects.

There are a variety of free
Virtual isation applications available,
with Mokafive being a good example.
The great thing about it is that it can be
run directly from a USB key, allowing
you to simply plug the key into your
netbook and then run the new
operating system without having to
install or set tip anything.

To give it a go, you'll need a USB
drive with at least 4GB of space for
optimal use Head to www.mokafive.com,
click on the Solutions tab and then
download 'Player for USB drives' and
save the fife to your USB drive. Next,
run the installation program directly
from the USB drive - after a short wait;
the Mokafive P layer will appear. A
great feature is that it's able to
download operating systems directly
from the web - either ones you've
created yourself or public operating
systems. The Linux XP Desktop comes
loaded by default, and all you need to
do is click on the green arrow to launch
the operating system. Of course, if you
want to run a commercial operating
system, you'll need a valid licence key.
You can read more about Mokafive,
and virtual isation in general, at
',',' '.'.' ■.'.' . p ( w. 1 . u fc / 1 1 6 I ■■] 1

Virtual isation lets you try out new
operating systems without permanently
affecting your netbook

:" WWW.pCW.CO.uk

DO MORE WITH YOUR NETBOOK

struggle when It comes to battery Life and
you'll be lucky to gel more than a couple of
hours' usage from a single charge. It's best to
Steer dear of three-cell batteries and instead
opt lor six-cell versions. Also, take
manufacturers' quoted battery iite times with
a pinch of salt. Hunt around tor reviews
(there are plenty ,11 www.ptw.ro.ukl to find nut
what real-life performance away from the
mains is like. You can always maximise
battery life by switching off Wifi when
It's not In use, dimming the screen
and tweaking the power settings in
XK il applicable.

Manufacturers are well
aware of the importance of
battery life, and Qiialcoutm
recently showed of I a
netbook It claims can run for
more than a working day -
see www.pcw.to.uk/2231889.

Usability

[f there's one common complaint
about netbook s, it's poor usability,
especially with the smaller models such
as the 7in Aslis Kee PC. Although
Impressive in terms of size, the keyboard is

difficult to type on ,11 speed and almost
impossible 10 type on at liII lor those with
large fingers. If possible, we'd always
recommend trying out the keyboard on your
chosen netbook before yon purchase.

Sadly, ihere's not ch you i.ni do aboiu

the size ol a netbook's keyboard after you've
purchased it, but if you plan to use it at home
or in the office it's worth investing in a
separate USB keyboard. The same goes for (he
trackpad, which is usually crammed into
a pitifully small area on a netbook. I!ven
a small external mouse will make a big
difference, and it's something you can
carry ,1 row id easily.

Screen issues

f you're used to a 1 5in laptop
screen or an even largei
desktop screen, stepping
down 10 lOin or smaller
can be something of a
struggle. Although cheap,
hose with a 71n screen really
are push big the boundaries of

It's a good Idea to try out the keyboard
for size before you buy

usaMity - for example, the Tin Asus liee PC
has .1 resolution of jusl R(IOx48(), making il
feel quite claustrophobic.

Unless portability is your only
consideration, we'd recommend opting lor
a netbook with either a 9in or lOin screen -
although even al these sizes you'll do well to
get more than one window on the screen at
any one time.

There are, however, a few ways in
which you can maximise the space on your
desktop. If you're using XP, a quick way to
reclaim a bit of desktop space is to set the
taskbar to hide when not in use (right-click
the taskbar. select Properties and ihen lick
the An to -hide box).

Another tip is to remove unnecessary
menu bars in applications such as your
word processor and web browser, or simply
run in bill-screen mode '.often activated
by pressing PI 1 ). When viewing websites
or reading documents, you might also [hid
it easier to change the orientation of the
screen to portrait. On Acer's Aspire One,
for example, you can do this by pressing Ctrl
fr Alt and either the left or right arrow key.

But, as with the keyboard, the only real
way to get a noticeable boost is to Invest in

Accessorise your netbook

They work fine by themselves, but invest in a
few accessories and your netbook will thank
you for it Here's our pick of the bunch,

Buffalo DVSM-P58U2

£59

www. buffalo -tech n nl ngy.com

Available in both black and white, this slim

DVD burner is the perfect companion for

your netbook. It weighs just 360g, draws

all the power it needs from a US8 port

and will write to DVDs at eight-speed

and CDs at 24- speed.

Western Digital's My Passport Essential bard
drive is available from 250GB to 500GB

The Logitech Alto
Cordless has a full-size
wireless keyboard

Western Digital My
Passport Essential

£69 (250GB)

www.wdc.com

Powered entirely by USB, this

hard drive is available from

250GB up to 500GB and comes in a variety

of colours It car also synchronise files with a

Windows-based netbook and encrypts them

for protection during transit.

Logitech Alto Cordless

£69
www.logitech.com

Even 10in netbooks are uncomfortable to
type on for extended periods. Logitech's Alto
Cordless not only provides a stand to taise
the height of the screen, but also comes with
a full-size wireless keyboard and features
three USB ports - perfect when using your
netbook at home or in the office.

Belkin Flex Hub

£15
www.belkin.com

If you're tunning out of USB ports,

this nifty little four-port USB hub will

help you out. Since you

need to plug it into an

existing USB port, you

only get three extra ports,

but that should be enough for most.

lie I Kin's useful USB
hub gives you four
ports in a storm

JL ■ Mogo Bluetooth Adapter

■ www.newtonpetipKetals.com

H Small and compact, this tiny USB
T device will equip your netbook with
j Bluetooth, allowing it to sync with
your mobile phone and other devices.
At just £10, it's a great way to boost the
functionality of your netbook and it's so
small you'll barely notice it.

Pakuma Choroka K4

www.pakuma.com

£29.99

The last thing you'd want is for your

beloved netbook to be damaged in a fall.

The Choroka <4 n from Pakuma is
specifically designed for netbooks
and is available in both 7in and
10in versions. With high-
density foam inside, it will
keep your netbook safe and
secure while travelling.

Mogo's Bluetooth Adapter boosts
functionality at a bargain price

www.pcw.co.uk

DO MORE WITH YOUR NETBOOK

Mobile broadband and netbooks go
hand in hand

an external monitor for use at
home or work.

Peripheral purchases

Chunky and a big draw on [lower,
optical drives don't really go hand
in band with the netbook
movement, and yon won't find
one included on any with a lOin
screen or smaller. However, if you
want to install some software quickly it
can be a real pain having to use a desktop PC
to copy the files onto a USB key. A far better
solution is to buy an external optica] drive -
these are actually much cheaper than you
might think, at around £50, and are also
extremely slim.

If you're planning to attach various bits
and bobs via USB, it's worth picking a netbook
with at least three USB ports. However, if you
start attaching an external keyboard, mouse,
hard drive and more, even this won't be
enough, autl means you will I lave to purchase
a USB hub. Such devices are very cheap, as
you'll see in our peripherals box on the
previous page, but you may find you need a
powered one (ie one that lias its
own mains power supply) if
you're running multiple devices
at the same time.

Broadband on the go

Previously very expensive and,
as a result, used by very few
people, mobile broadband has
been one of the biggest
beneficiaries ol the netbook
revolution. Although most
netbooks have built-in Witi,
which lets you access the
internet from home and when
near a public hotspot, their
portable nature means they're
absolutely perfect For accessing
broadband on the go. And thanks to the
increased demand, mobile broadband is now
cheaper than ever before, with deals from as
little as £10 per month. If you do sign up to
one of the cheaper deals, be wary aboul
downloading large updates, such as Windows
service packs, as they might push you over
your monthly data tap. Instead, save all
major downloads for when your netbook is
in reach of your home or office wireless
network. If you're yet to purchase a
netbook, you might find it's worth your
while signing up to a mobile broadband
contracl and getting a netbook lor free -
take a look at our 'hfetbooks itjj- nowt'
box above for more information.

Whether you're running l.iuux or
XI', There's no reason to stick with I he

Netbooks for nowt

If you're looking for both a netbook
and mobile broadband, consider
combining the two and getting the
netbook for free. Your choice of
netbooks will be limited, and you'll be
tied into a fairly long contract, but
you can save a fair bit of cash.

If you're willing to sign up to a
two-year contract, T-Mobilc
(£25/month) and 3 (£20/montb)
are offering the original Asus Eee
PC 701 free. Both also have the
Elonex Webbook available, as do
Orange (£2 5/ mo nth), for a similar
two-year contract Meanwhile,
Toshiba's NE100 is available on 3,
T-Mobile, Orange and 02.
although all require at least a
two-year £30 a month contract

There are plenty of other free
netbook deals - check out the mobile
operators' websites as well as stores
such as Carphone Warehouse
(www.catpho newarehouse.com) and
Phoncs4U (www.phones4u.co.uk).

• — .—,. products & prices
I

ASUS 901 Eee PC

with mobde broadband tor £24'" a month

w*t xvt»k*iwiIJ.-"

A3U3HIE|*PC

D*B H

If you sign up to a mobile broadband contract
you can bag a netbook free

software thai comes pre-installed with your
netbook. A prime example is the web
browser. Internet Explorer and. to a lesser
extent. Mo/illa ran both place quite a strain
on your netbook's limited resources.
Consider downloading Google Chrome
(www.google.com/chromei - ii might noi be the
most leature-rich browser and some websites
don't appear quite as well as on other
browsers, but ii's very List and perfect! )
suited to netbooks.

In terms ol office software, you can't
gel much more efficient than Open Office
(www.openoffke.org), which usually comes
pre-installed with I. mux netbooks. Ii you're
running XP, ditch any free trials of Microsoft
Office and .switch to Open Office - your
netbook will lhank you lor it.

Google Chrome is a small, fast browser that works
well with netbooks

If you're suffering from dropped frames

when watching video using Windows Media
Player, VLC (www.videolan.org/vlo is an
excellent freeware alternative. As it takes up
far fewer resources, there's a good chance it
will solve your video woes.

Don't forget that there are also plenty
of online applications, which will take the
strain oil your netbook altogether. Google
Docs ( www.google, com/docs ) is perhaps the
best known Iree online word processor,
while Zoho Office (www.iolto.com) has a wide
range of applications that are free for
personal use.

The future of netbooks

As we've shown here, although netbooks
aren't nearly as powerful as traditional
laptops, i here's no reason ilicj can't he
tweaked and upgraded to meet your needs.
And with the netbook revolution showing no
signs ol stowing down, manutai inters are
clambering over themselves to release new
models with greater power and more
features. As we mentioned earlier, Intel
recent U announced its netbook processoi
road map, while \MD i*> 3I50 likely to enter
the Irame. However, unlike with standard
laptops, manufacturers are under extreme
pressure to keep the price and dimensions ol
netbooks small - after all, that's the sole
reason they're so popular, PCW

•' www.pcw.co.uk

OUNTINC AND FINANCE SOLUTION'

3 DATES, 3 LOCATIONS

LAND

25 FEBRUARY 2009
GLASGOW MARRIOTT///

11 FEBRUARY 2009
REEBOK STADIUM

4 FEBRUARY 2009
HOTEL IBIS EARLS COURT/

Get closer to the latest solutions

New for 2009, Softworld runs in 3 locations around the UK!
Choose your most convenient show and meet with providers
delivering solutions to enhance your business processes.

Save time by testing key accounting and finance products in one day

Enhance your expertise in FREE masterclasses and seminars
■ See software demonstrations and get face to face advice

Attend with your buying team to streamline the procurement process
ftTake away a FREE Softworld Buyers' Guide

www.softworld.co.uk/af

To hoot a Vanri call Alex Sworriei on 070 7316 9531

busine$sGireen.<»«i
AccountancyAge financialDirector

i nomi

ML.' "M

HanuMMCB

BASDA

INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
FACULTY

m» i*.vc! hi n im

I HAH T I HI n A'ii.HMMi

OF SCOTLAND

Even at this early stage, I wo Windows
7 predictions seem safe. First, it will
be better liked than Windows Vista,
which has become- a PR disaster far
Microsoft thanks to poor early
experiences for many users. Second,
naysayers will say that Windows 7 is merely
Vista reheated - and they have a case. Even
Microsoft says that the core architecture is
unchanged, and the pre-bcta code reviewed
here is suspiciously stable. The new features
are generally low key, and the company is
belting that users would rather have an
operating system that's familiar but smoother
and less annoying rather than one that
rewrites the Windows rules yet again.

When will we get windows 7? Microsoft
has not announced an exact date, though the
company says it will be around three years
after Vista, which launched in January 2007.
That would mean early 2010, but given the
pressure on Microsoft to move on from Vista,
and the high quality o) the current builds,
most observers think it will be sooner.

The lirst feat lire- complete public beta
launched recently and, all going well we

could see PCs pre-loaded with Window's 7 on
the shelves in autumn 2009. That would
hum [i gelling ilit* final code to PC vendors in
the summer, which is ,m\ accelerated
schedule bin looks plausible based on what
we have seen.

Damage limitation

Windows 7 was unveiled at Microsoft's
Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in
Los Angeles late in 2008. Reviewers got loan
machines with a preview build pre-iustalled.
Some of [he new features were mil enabled
in this build, including the new taskbar. so
we also tried one of Microsoft's internal
builds, which is closer to what will eventually
be shipped. Windows 7 includes Interne!
Fxplnrer 8. hut ibis is not covered in detail
below since it is a separate product that will
also be available for Windows XP and Vista.

Two factors strongly influence: Windows 7.
One is the poor reception given m Windows
Vista, launched under the slogan 'The Wow
starts now', but soon criticised lor poor
performance, low-epialily elrivers lor some
devices and an irritating user interface. By

the time Service Pack I was released in
February 2008, Vista was much improved;
but its public perception can never fully
recover. Further, the Visla user interlace does
bear signs of haste. When blogger Uing
Zheng started a website enabling users to
vote em their most hated inconsistencies
(www.aeiotaskfoice.com), ii soon filled Willi
complaints aboul issues such as the way
Explorer eletieles to display the contents of a
folder as music, or images, even when most
of the files are ol a different type, and hiding
Lisclul information such as file size and elate.

Rush job

The truth is that Vista was indeed rushed,
mainly because Microsoft spent years going
down the wrong track with a version of
Winetows built meire deeply on the .Net
Framework and Windows Presentation
Foundation (WPF), weirk that had to be
undone and reset. Further time was spent
Irving to improve Windows XP's security
with Service Pack 2, reducing the resources
available to build Vista. Vista eneled up very
late, and one consequence was that third-

•' www.pcw.co.uk

WINDOWS 7 PREVIEW

Above: The Windows 7 desktop, showing multiple
document previews in the new taskbar

party vendors did not have enough time to
create high-quality drivers.

Another Vista problem is the security
feature called User Account Control (UAC),
which is on by default. This is widely
disliked, because it prompts the user with
one or more annoying dialog ties when they
perform certain tasks or install and update
applications. The real purpose ot User
Account Control is to solve a long-standing
Windows legacy problem, which is that it
does not properly separate system files,
application files, and user data, making it
insecure and hard to manage.

Although MidOSOft long ago
laid down guidelines intended
to fix this, too many third-party
applications ignored them, and
even some Microsoft
applications do not behave as
they should. This is why many
Windows users still work while
logged on with full
administrator rights over their
machine, making it an easy
target for ma] ware.

UAC in effect reduces those
rights while still enabling badly
behaved applications to run,
though there can still be
compatibility problems. The
bottom line is t bat UAC is a key part of
Microsoft's Windows strategy, but for the
user it is nothing more than annoying; it is
a usability burden rather than a benefit.
Windows 7 reduces the impact ol UAC on
the user while preserving most of its value.

The OSX factor

The other factor that has driven Windows 7
development is the increasing market share
of Apple's OSX. Many Windows users have-
switched; tew have gone the other way.
There are many reasons, including security.
marketing, performance, usability, and
the advantages ot controlling both
hardware and software,

«>

hwBI mhun to b* irti t*d abvA O'l^w *** V 1 ul >'o*np IJ tt '

This dialogue determines which applications are
allowed to show notifications

These add up to better design and
Microsoft is desperate to improve Windows
so it can better hold its own. At Microsoft's
Remix 08 conference last year, principal
researcher Bill Buxton said thai the drive for
change is now coming bom the top. "Last
year at the company meeting Steve Ballmer
told 85, QUO employees: 'If you don't change
and you don't go in this direction, we're dead
- and I don't want to die'."

The stage is set for the main themes oi
Windows 7: usability, performance and a
determination no! in repeat the Vista fiasco.

Left: Control the crrattlness of UAC
with this simple slider

The Windows 7 desktop

The Windows 7 desktop includes
a new, chunkier Taskbar along
with leat tires such as Aero Snap,
which makes it easy to arrange
windows. Pan oi the thinking
behind larger icons is to support
a touch interlace, compete with
multitinger gestures and inertia
effects, though our preview
laptop was sadly lacking in touch
features. The Windows Sidebar
has gone, and I he gadgets it used
to contain now live directly on the desktop.

In Vista, the Taskbar shows running
applications, while ihere is a separate Quick
Launch area with tiny icons you can use for
launching applications without navigating
the Start menu. Windows 7 makes the Quick
Launch area almost redundant because you
can install shortcuts omo I he Taskbar itself.

The Jump List is another important
feature. This is a pop-up menu that
application developers can customise. Since
this menu is pan of the running application,
it can expose key features such as playing or
pausing a track in Windows Media Player,
while the application remains minimised.

Another welcome feature is multiple
preview for stacked instances of the same
document or application. Imagine, for
example, that you have several Word
documents open on a crowded Taskbar. In
Vista, you get a single icon showing the
number of instances and hovering I lie
mouse previews the top one only. Windows 7
shows a preview of all the open documents,
making it easier to navigate.

Opening Explorer reveals the new
Libraries feature, which lets you view
multiple folders as if they were one. This
is great for making sense ol multiple
music folders created as drives run out of
space, or ior managing projects.

Windows 7 has better support for devices.
One aspect of this is the Device Stage, which

www.pcw.co.uk

WINDOWS 7 PREVIEW

enables vendors to customise what happens
when they OTBHCC! their device to a PC.
Another development is a new Sensor
Platform, which provides a common
applications programming interlace (API) lor
developers supporting devices such as location
provider's, motion, light or sound detectors.
This will make it possible tor applications to
respond to your environment, for example.

Making Windows quieter

Windows 7 should he less 'chatty' than
earlier versions. One example ot this is less
intrusive UAC prompts. The core of UAC is
the same as in Vista, but its default setting,
based on the preview code, is wound down a
notch to reduce the number of prompts that
appear. Returning to Vista's verbose level is
done easily using a slider control. Another
example is in the new Notification Area at
the bottom-right of the taskbar. in Windows
Vista, an application can install itself there
and bombard you with 'balloon' messages.
Windows 7 suppresses these by default and
introduces a new customisation dialogue-
where you can control the ones you actually
want to see. The advantage is that users have
more control. The disadvantage is that useful
notifications might be missed if the user does
not realise they must be switched on.

Using the Action Center

The main new feature in the Windows 7
Control Panel is the Action Center, which
brings together the most common
maintenance and troubleshooting tasks in a
single dialogue. This is where you can check
security status, change UAC settings, make

The new Action Center brings together the most
commonly used system settings and warnings

backups, or configure Windows Update.
Network settings are tiot accessible here,
which illustrates the problem with these
user-triendly dialogues: if what you are
looking for is not listed, il is more work lhau
simply navigaling the entire Control Panel.

Home networking

Microsoft has figured out that not only is it
common for there to be more than one PC at
home o]\ a wireless network, tun also that
users frequently bring laptops home from
work and want to print documents or
connect to home computers. The new
solinion lor home networking is called ihe
Home Group and automates most of the
work ot sharing folders and media. A key
change Ironi earlier versions is that bo sin ess
computers joined to a Windows domain can
also join a Home Group. Windows 7 detects
which network the machine is on, and
changes sellings such as the default printer

Home Group simplifies file-sharing at home

egroup id ihm I ibraiies jnd do/KH in your homr

A twiwpuig im «™pvwi o-> jwn «vm tftmrt » rt* fn rjm #m pictviYi mm<

automatically. By default, files on a domain
PC or laptop are not shared, reducing [he risk
of madvertently exposing the confidential

data of other home users.

Windows 7 for business

The relationship between Windows lor the
desktop and Windows for the server is
interesting for several reasons. Windows
Server 2008 has the same kernel as Windows
Visla SPI. [hough [he server product is belter
liked, which suggests that if Vista has
problems, they are not at that level.

The next server release will be Sc-ner
2008 R2, which may well have the same
kernel as Windows 7 and be shipped ai
around the same time, ft is no surprise then
to find thai some enterprise features of
Windows 7 are only available when it is used
with Server 2008 R2. One that is worth
mentioning is Direct Access, which enables
secure communication between Windows
machines, using IPv6-over-tPsec, without the
need for a virtual private network. Users
with Windows 7 can access
corporate file shares and
intranets, or run applications
that access internal data, while
administrators can manage
remote computers, and update
software whenever they are
connected to the Internet,
All hough it's a compelling
feature, the prospect of
upgrading client and server
will not go down so well.

.tn '^ Cincjl

— J!*—

Ctwigr mnttfgt Mttmf«
Utt* Atiounl Control liftings

Vaw tvfaflfciity *W orm*i

ttondm-. UpdMe

lack UP QMttfW y<- '

Change IhwmN HfMntji
Change Irtcfnet i*amtf\

carnpubf sp^Ejrmarvr

■j miolv c problem*

Jet" 1

MkuipMUith- <l*ifmlBrt)

*«i»m *» rC. '-XJ Ifhw U*>M f *r*\

f'Ji sripwn on»*t

IC«**J||I

f ur* C* 1 lrrRI45C lite tfwj

^* rTfC "- T tv«*Jbfe cpoo**

MMHkypM.lhfHM

^wiwwWmi»«y»W|>' < oniiiil^ff»

£li B i U i.«.p

Turn nil rruniqcT hbc ihrs

tcfn*Om |

Cud miw ttpmienct

lmprovrfnr»tf VtTinij*
Windo*** P*Oqj*rTi

Comp4lir>k*A

ThnnpoUvm«R)ivcHptoMlMnit
Man Yaaariai ta McnaoFt Soma sf taaaa siontani

oralvv

Do I want Windows 7?

Windows 7 promises to be
what Visla should have been -
a PC operating system that is
smoother, better looking, more
secure and more usable than Windows XI'.
Microsoft claims to have worked hard on
Windows internals, speeding common
operations such as copying files. Judging by
the preview build performance in general il is
better than before. Preserving the core
architecture of Vista should mean a high
level of compatibility for those upgrading.
The hardware requirements appear similar to
those lor Vista, based on the preview. It is
likely that Windows 7 will be a welcome
upgrade lor Vista users. Those coming from
Windows XP will face most of the same
compatibility problems as with Visla, bill il is
now hard to argue that XP is superior. That
said, il is slilt Windows and unlikely [o temp
Mac converts back to the lotd.

The most radical new lea lure is mulii-
touch support, the success of which depends
on how usable Microsoft makes it for legacy
applications, and (he willingness of PC
vendors to invest in more expensive laptops
and screens in order 10 lake advantage. bi

•' www.pcw.co.uk

WINDOWS 7 PREVIEW

Key new features in Windows 7

Frequent

u Removable Disk (fc)
* Documents
| Personal Documents
J Muiic
b. Pictures

y v .den-

Mult i- touch

For PCs such as HP's Touch smart, Microsoft is
touting the new multi-touch user interface as a
significant way to control Windows. You can tap
and drag with a finger, and use hand gestures to
rotate or zoom images, pinching them smaller or
expanding them out. The interface simulates
inertia, so you can shove objects across the
screen. It is a departure from the Tablet PC
approach, which usually relies on a special stylus
Touch should work well for applications that arc
designed for it, but there is a problem with
existing applications that require finer control
than a finger can easily provide.

Bitlocker to Co

Capacious USB pen disks arc convenient
but easily lost, which is risky for confidential
data or documents. Bitlocker to Go extends
Windows built-in drive encryption to
removable storage devices. When you connect
a locked disk, Windows prompts the user for
a pass phrase or smart card. There is also a
recovery key, created when the encryption is
first applied, which you should save in case
of password loss. If you lose that as well, then
the drive is useless until reformatted. Or\
business networks, IT admins can enforce
Bitlocker to Co as system policy.

New Taskbar and Jump List

The Windows 7 Taskbar is the single most
obvious new feature It is smarter, better- looking
and more flexible than Vista's equivalent. You
install shortcuts and launch applications from
the main Taskbar area, just as you can with
Apple's Dock Taskbar icons feature a jump list,
a pop- up menu that is customised for each
application, offering immediate access to key
features. For example, in Windows Media Player
you can start and stop play without needing to
go to the main application window, and the
Explorer Jump List shown above gives quick
access to common locations.

Organise Explorer with libraries

Libranes are a new feature of Explorer that
lets you merge the view of multiple folders
into one. In the example above, a folder of
Windows 7 screenshots has been merged
with the standard Windows picture folders.
You can create your own libraries and they
do not have to contain files of only one type;
you can also use them for projects that
combine, say, documents and images There
is also an option to 'Set save folder', which
makes the selected folder the default location
for items of a particular type. This makes it
easy to set a new default if your current disk
is nearly full.

Aero Snaps docks desktop windows

Arranging windows on the desktop is easier in
Windows 7 thanks to a feature called Aero
Snaps. Drag a window towards one side of
the screen and it docks to fill half the screen
on that side. Drag it to the top of the screen
and it maximises A transparent outline
shows where the window will end up. Aero
Snaps is handy for tasks such as comparing
two documents, or moving content
between windows using drag and drop.
Another new Aero feature makes all windows
transparent if you hover your mouse at the
right end of the Taskbar. exposing the
desktop temporarily.

Device Stage for attached devices

The Windows 7 Device Stage is intended to
improve the user experience when you attach
a device such as a phone, printer or camera.
Device Stage allows the vendor to create a
custom dialogue that appears on connection,
showing the information and actions that arc
relevant for that particular device. This can
include internet links for tasks such as
purchasing ink or ringtones. The risk is that
vendors may go too far in showing
advertising, making the feature more annoying
than useful. Another issue is how many
manufacturers will bother to create custom
dialogues that only work on Windows 7

www.pcw.co.uls March 2C

Hunting for the latest industry
research and case studies?

Stop searching,
start finding

With more than 1,500 white
papers, analyst reports, case
studies and webinars IThound is
one of the largest free libraries of
information technology resources
on the internet. IThound gives you
access to detailed information about
thousands of software, hardware and
IT service solutions, allowing you to
research and compare solutions to
make informed purchasing decisions.
Best of all, IThound is completely
free to use.

IThound

For all enquiries contact Paul Harvey on 020 7316 9308

or email info@ithound.com

www.ithound.com

Hie amazing British Invention first seen on BBC's

DRAGONS' DEN

Save Money & Energy

ost of us are now aware of standby
power, which is the electricity consumed
by many electrical items such as TV's,
DVD's, Stereo's, Computers, Printers
and Speakers, when they are left plugged in at the
electricity wall socket.

What we are probably not aware of is the amount of
money wasted due to standby power on an annual
basis. Nationally it equates to £572 million pounds
according to the Energy Savings Trust. Those little red
lights on the front of the TV and the convenience of
having things "ready to go" can add up to a lot of
wasted energy and money. So when Standby Saver
appeared on the popular TV show "Dragons Den" it
was hardly surprising to see all five Dragons
wanting to invest in the energy saving unit.

What is the Standby Saver and why would you want
one? Essentially, it's a multi-plug adapter which you plug
all your electrical appliances into, and then when you've
finished using the main device such as a TV
or a Computer, it will automatically switch off the power
to all the other devices plugged into Standby Saver. The
TV version works with your existing TV remote control
via a supplied infra red sensor, and the Computer version
works via a supplied USB connector.

It saves around £43 per year in wasted electricity if tour
devices are plugged in, and can save even more if all six
of the sockets are used. The clever guys behind Standby
Saver have even thought about those items which can't
be switched off such as Sky Boxes, Virgin Media or a TV

"It saves around £43 per year in
wasted electricity if four devices are
plugged in, and can save even more
if all six of the sockets are used."

recording device that has a timer. Two of the Standby
Saver's six sockets allow you to exempt a device
from being fully powered off as they include a switchable
mode allowing you to select between "Standby Saving
Mode" or permanently on.

We think this is a great British invention as it cures a
problem all homes and businesses suffer from, and
stops wasting energy and money. It adds great
convenience too where it's not possible to get to sockets
to switch off at the wall, or tor anybody with mobility
issues where bending over to turn things on or off is
painful or difficult. For families with children who
forget to turn things off, it's a great solution to a nagging
problem, and by installing multiple units throughout the
home literally hundreds of pounds can be potentially
saved over the course of the year.

www .the Standby Saver

co.uk

British Gas energy for tomorrow
badge endorsement. Where you see
this bacgernarK. you can fie confidern
that ihe product will genuinely help lo
reduce carbon emissions

• Cuts 100% of the standby power used by TV's, HiFi's, DVD's, & more

• Cuts 100% of the power to PC's, printers, mobile chargers & more

WINDOWS POWER MANAGEMENT

Power struggles

Make effective use of your PC's power-management capabilities

t the risk of stating the
hlindingly obvious, your

computer needs energy i<

But wit!) the unpredictable
costs of this energy and
increasing concerns over the long-term
susiainahiliiy ol power generation, there arc
great incentives to try to reduce your
computer's power consumption to the
absolute minimum.

This feature, part of our ongoing
back- to- basics series, aims to give you some
practical advice on flow to make effect ive use
nt (he power-management capabilities ol
your PC. as well as giving you some more
in-depth technical background information
to help you understand how it all works.
We'll look mainly at Windows XP and
Vista in this feature, although we will
mention earlier Windows versions and
Dos where relevant.

Luckily, setting up a good Windows
power-management scheme isn't difficult and
doesn't need any advanced hacking skills -
you don't even need to edit the Registry. And
for the really lazy we'll point you to a free
tool that can do it all for you. Hut for those
who prefer the hands-on approach, all it
requires is that you understand what you're
doing- which is where this feature conies in.

ACPI

The ancestor ol modern PC power
management was Advanced Power
Management or APM (see box on the next
page). This was a brave - if ultimately
doomed - attempt to help PCs save power,
hut it eventually led to its successor, the
Advanced Configuration and Power
interface (ACPI), which lirsl appeared
in Windows 98, ACPI handed
responsibility for power
management to the operating
system (although as we'll explain
later some Bios settings can
si ill affect the w.i\ Windows
works), "this concept is
known as operating
system-directed power
management, or OSPM.
In some Rioses you
I may see various ACPI
W settings (pictured

above), including a

nuttli M4NITH CHI IcfcH Ulflllg
rWr *

K71 flRClUH

■CM town lift
lb> JMriJ? I' fa

nfY ihmj

. mr j« **fH4

kaitl ta
■«■■ m

MM towf bw
Wi-Bfl Ki rM-FTO
ItLMkrl HhUii
Ibhc U» Iq Kt <«*J
film Ok |hJ KJkj

-ji i'~ t *>-\, pm

i mu«j

a Kii'i

DtftriMriM
n ElLuftMl

An ACPI Bios may offer many power-management
settings, but not all are Important In Windows

setting to enable or disable ACPI. This is to
support non-ACPl-aware operating systems,
for which you can go back to using APM at
your peril (see box on the next page). But
note that if your Bios has such a setting, you
should never change it after Windows has
been installed - doing so could cause
Windows to refuse to load, tl the setting is
wrong, the only safe time to change it is
before doing a fresh reinstall of Windows.

The reason for this is that Windows
installs a different hardware abstraction
layer (Hal) for each type of PC hardware.
The Hal is the software component thai
allows Windows to run on a vast range ol
different PCs: the Hal talks directly to the
hardware, and Windows talks only to the
hardware via this intermediate layer.

During a fresh installation, Windows tries
to determine what kind of Bios your PC lias
and chooses the Hal accordingly. There's
more technical information on this process
at I he Microsoft Knowledgebase, in article

31408S (http://suppoit.microsoft.tom/kb/314aa8/

en-US). Once installed, changing the type of
Hal requires J fresh install ol Windows,
which is why you should n't change the
ACPI status in your Bios.

But assuming your PC is AC PI -com pliant
and Windows has corrculy determined
this (which isn't a certainty, if the Bios
is badly written or contains bugs), your
way is clear to start optimising your PC's
power management. Let's start by jumping
straight into the thick ol it by looking at
one of the most confusing terms in power
management - sleep.

•' www.pcw.co.uk

WINDOWS POWER MANAGEMENT

APM - a bit of prehistory

Back in the early days of Dos. power
management took the form of a big red
switch. Your PC was either on or off, with
no in-between. But with the advent of
Windows, battery-powered portables and
the huge uptake of computers in business,
pressure to reduce energy consumption
started to build, culminating in 1993 with
the Energy Star programme that required
PCs to use less than 30W in standby mode.

The first industry standard was
Advanced Power Management (APM),
created by Intel, Microsoft and IBM for the
needs of mobile computing. APM was
pretty crude by today's standards Power
management of a PC's components and
devices was handled by the computer's
Bios, and an APM-awarc operating system
such as Windows could have some basic
communications with the Bios about
power management. So if your operating
system wanted to turn off a component, it
would tell the Bios, and the Bios would
then do the low-level dirty work. The
reverse path could also apply - a timeout
in the Bios would send a warning message
for the operating system to get its house in
order before system shutdown. The only
trouble was that both the Bios and OS
could end up trying to do opposite things.

PCs without an APM-aware OS relied
totally on the APM in the Bios for power
management. Most Bioses included some
basic power settings you could tweak But
Bios has no awareness of software or data,
so a Dos application can't toil the Bios to

'hang on a minute!' while it finishes its
tasks, opening the door to conflicts and
potential data loss.

APM was pretty dumb. Even under
Windows it had no way of telling what
you were doing: PCs powering off in the
middle of creating a spreadsheet, or
embarrassing screensavers kicking in
during corporate presentations, were
accepted as part of computing life. The
only sure way to prevent problems with
APM was to disable it.

You can check what type of system
Windows thinks you have by clicking
Control Panel / Device Manager / System.
Click the 'Computer' branch to expand it.
Modern PCs with ACPI will display the
computer type with 'ACPI' in the name.
APM systems will say 'Standard PC

rt» (^ ■•*-

m am i»i

,™

■i **«^C*»*^.-«r.*y*T-»iri»t™i*gt}K

Device Manager will show you whether Windows
is using APM or not. This is an ACPI -compliant
XP laptop from 2001

Sleepytime blues

Booting up a PC can take whai seems like an
eternity, especially when you're in a hurry.
This is because your PC's system memory
doesn't save intonuaiion when it's powered
off- it's what's known as volatile memory.
So, the operating system has to start from
scratch every time, loading drivers, data and
programs. Electronic components also have
to be powered and initialised every time you
turn the PC on, which adds to boot time.

Manufacturers realised that it would he
much better lor users if the PC could run
in a reduced power state, ready for instant
wake-up such as a TV or other consumer
electronic device. This is known as sleep
or standby mode, although there's no real
standard definition of these terms.

ACPI offers system designers two main
ways of nuking a PC sleep. The least effective
way is called Power-on -suspend, or Pos. In
the parlance of ACM it's called the SI sleeping
state (see table, ACPI sleep states, on the next
page, for a list of these power states).

The SI state reduces the power to Sl-
capable components, such as the processor,

hut the power supply remains on and Li us
may still he working. Components thai don't
support SI will he turned oft. Memory is kept
[lowered up. On our 'typical' tesl system,
entering the SI state reduced power
consumption from its working idle level of
I s()W to 200W to about 100W. Ail the fans
remained on, hut hard drives, graphics cards
and other major components were off.

A much more aggressive sleep mode i>. the
S3 sleeping slate, or Suspend-lo-Ram (STR).
In this, system state is saved entirely to
memory, meaning that just a small amount

of power (from tbe 5V standby output of the

power supply) is needed to keep the memory
chips and other essential components
operating. On our test system, power
consumption in this stale dropped to just
) 5W, which is only a couple of watts more
than the 'shutdown' stale I I3W) on our PC
(this (iff consumption ligure is high due to
the rather old and inefficient 60OW power
supply in our tesl PC. See our feature at
www.pcw.to.uk/2223197 (or advice on buying an
efficient model.

Hibernation

Roth Ihese sleep states above allow rapid
wake-up of your PC - typically just a few
seconds. Rut they still need a small amount
of power and for laptops in particular this
isn't a good plan for long-term storage. If you
leave a laptop in this stale for a long lime,
eventually tbe batteries will run down and
you'll lose any unsaved data.

So a different approach is
needed to allow ?ero power drain
while still allowing a quicker startup
than cold-booting. The answer is to
store the system state data not in
Ram but on the hard disk, a process
known as hibernation, or the ACPI
S4 sleep state.

When hibernation was first
implemented, a separate hidden
partition on the hard disk was often
used. This wasn'l really a good plan
- it a user deleted the partition,
hibernation wouldn't work.
So you'll find most Windows PCs now use
a special hidden system file, which is the
same size as the amount of memory in your
PC. The file is called hiherfil.sys and sits in
the root directory of your system drive.
Writing the data stored in memory to the
hard drive lakes some time and it's also a lot
slower to read than Ram. so hibernation is
noticeably slower than Si or S3 sleep when
shutting down or restarting your PC. The
big advantage is that when ihe system's
hibernated, you can safely pull the plug or
battery out of your PC and not lose any of
the saved system state.

Hibernation first appeared in Windows 95,
when it was called suspend-lo-disk. ft needed
special drivers for each PC and so it wasn't
widely used. Windows 98 introduced ACPI
support, Inn there were si ill many problems
with hibernation, particularly on Fai>2-

::\Ducun*nti *n0 S«lt'roj\k.«T t jrttayl»r>PO*MCFO ,' AV AH. Al I ESL£ INSTATES
rh# fellmring *l«tp stun *r# avallibl* on thii i>*t*m: standby ( 91

standby t 51 53 J mb^r

h* f si Taring slatp ititis va not
.Undby (SZ)

: '.Oo^unwnti and S*tt^ngi'\ki1vyntAylDr>

It's easy to find out what sleep states are supported by your PC

www.pcw.co.uk March 2C

WINDOWS POWER MANAGEMENT

ACPI sleep states

S1 (Power On Suspend, Pos)
S2

53 (Suspend to Ram, STR)

54 (Suspend to disk. Hibernate)

55 (Sofi-Off)

The system is powered and all systems are operational - lowest level of

power saving

The system is powered, all system rontex I is preserved

The system is powered on, but CPU and cache context are not preserved

The system is powered, all system context is lost, but system memory

retained

System is powered off, all context is saved by OS to disk, power can be

removed

Same as S4, but no context saved by the OS

formatted drives. It wasn't really until
Windows 2000 r hat it Lit came reliable and
didn't need special drivers.

If the hibernation file is deleted tor any
reason it will be recreated when the system
next hibernates- The file is deleted when yon
disable hibernation in the Windows Control
Parrel (see below).

but also provides a safety net if the power is

turned off while the PC is asleep. II I his
happens, the data from I he hard disk is used
to resume the PC, just like hibernation.

More importantly. Vista is (usually) much
more intelligent about how it sleeps,
Adjusting the type ol sleep stale, depending

W°»ti imirfmiul a.t^imm

The Vista difference

Vista radically changed the
Flexibility of power
management on PCs, although
many derided it as too
complicated, with multiple-
ways of tn mi ng off the PC
listed on rhe Sum menu,
including the new all-
embracing Sleep mode. Vista's
most significant new power-
related leature is Hybrid Sleep
mode, which is just a

combination of the S3 and SI sleep states. In
Hybrid Sleep the system's running state is
stored both to memory and to the bard disk.
This allows fast wake-up of a few seconds,

ri™ v^irtc ifcip

ri.jMr/Pl.-hli. LlMQ

on what the PC. is doing. ] : or example, if
you're recording a video or downloading a
file - if your hardware and software are fully
A CPI-com pliant - pressing the power button
on the Start menu will turn the display off.
When the tasks have finished, the system
will gradually go into deeper sleep as
determined by the timeouts in Control Panel,
unless yon wake it up from the keyboard or
mouse, or another (ask starts.

Putting it all together

Now we know how it all works, it's time to
make use ol our knowledge. First, you
should make Sure your Bios settings are
correct. II you're running Windows XI' or
Vista and your Rios is riot set to enable ACPI,
most power-management limctinus won't be
available to you. But as we explained above
you'll need to reinstall the operating system.

Below: There are lots of settings relevant only to
non-ACPI operating systems In the Bios of this old
ACPI-compllant IBM Thlnkpad

Help

Dunn- Uilm

I i lubtfc

Above: This Fujitsu Siemens
laptop running Vista has
minimal power- management
settings in the Bios

hwn*1 ttadf liu

tfflLt Udflm

!in|r«i TH«*i
1 1 D .ill Tli..

inii .in I..-.

Ttmrrxtai S]jr*il

Lw &••'

.TmK-14 wferH LID fa i. \rv*t

' »«> 1 iw
Iwr

In*.

>.« Hiltriij Lll

r'. niniti-,l

U Mi mini

r r , n ii.it.- 1

lit'!., it n.i-i

[Eiuhlnll

BwamU
Wl-rfliMI

ttl'ilblfJl
it* «i mi
utmnmi

tVl'.jblnt]

X tktr
utflm Midi* i

j II •-

Magical wake-up

Q WOL Ha&t Picket Scndci

Fte hep

PrcWe

Sometimes you might want to access your PC from a remote location
- to get files, or perhaps set it to record a TV show, for example.
There is one way to do this, but it's not particularly easy. You'll also
need to understand how to configure your router, and your router and
broadband connection will need to be on

Wakc-on-Un (WoL) is a business technology
that allows a special data packet ('Magic
Packet') to wake up your PC. All you need is a
WoL -capable network card (most integrated
network adapters on modern motherboards
support this, so if your Bios has a Wake-on-Lan
entry, it should be fine) and a way of sending
a Magic Packet to this card via the web.

It's this last part that's tricky. First, you need
a fixed IP address for your broadband router -
the easiest way is to get a free Dynamic DNS
address from a site such as www.dyndns.org This
will look something like http://nryddnsaddress,
dyndns.org and you can use it to send packets to
your router from anywhere on the internet.

Then you'll need a program that can send
Magic Packets. One free one is WoL - Magic

:eji

Packet Sender (http://magicpacket.free.fr). An internet- based alternative
is at www.depicus.com/wake-on-lan/woli.aspx. with a good FAQ
(www.d epi c u s ,co m /wake -o n - Ian/what- is-wa ke-o n-la n, aspx) .

To get this working, it's easiest to first try it on two PCs that aren't
on the same internet connection. You
need to know the static IP address or
Dynamic DNS of your router and the
MAC address of your PC's network
card (run the ipeonfig /all command
in a command prompt to find this).
You will almost certainly need to enable
WoL in your PC's Bios as well - look in
the Power section.

Your router may block the Magic
Packets, in which case you'll need to
manually forward incoming traffic on
UDP Port 9 (or whatever port you want
to use) to the PC you want to wake up.

It may take some trial and error, but
once you get it working it's a very useful
facility if you often need to access your
home PC remotely.

■-t.1.ry_
Ho«N»rn«
SufeMMu*

MACMdms

Protocol
Port

|lJC>}»»*!Vi*njj!g

|K5i55JS5»S!H«n*ti

|0C-Kr-*>2i*E

UOP

WoL Magic Packet Sender Is a free tool for waking
up your PC remotely

:" WWW.pCW.CO.uk

WINDOWS POWER MANAGEMENT

Manage your power settings with Edison

There aren't many free utilities for power
management, but a new one called Edison
recently appeared from Verdi em, a
company that supplies
power-management
solutions to businesses.

The program works
on XP and Vista, and is
rather a blatant
advertising tool (it
requires registration
and needs an internet
connection). But,
despite this, it's very
useful if you want a
simple way to manage
your power settings.

You adjust power
settings with a single
slider control and
underneath you can
see a rough estimate of
the money you'll save Edison provides
Edison uses local Windows power

edis^n.

average electricity prices to work this out,
plus average PC power consumption, so
it's not very accurate. You can create
custom schemes as
well, but this disables
the financial calculator.

One of the
handiest features is the
scheduler that allows
you to set your work
and home times. So
you can, for example,
set your PC for
minimum savings
during work hours and
maximum savings at
night and weekends.
There's no clever
technology to Edison,
but it is a simple way to
get at the basic settings
without having to dig
1 simple front end to into the Windows
management settings Control Panel

Assuming ACPI is enabled, look in your
Bios for entries describing 'AC I 1 ! suspend
stale' or similar. These may oiler you options
such as si (Pos), S3 (STR) or combined
S1/S3. If possible choose the combined SI/S3
mode. Choosing SI only will disable Vista's
Hybrid Sleep capability, but you will still be
able to hibernate the system. S3 capability is
required ui enable Hybrid Sleep.

If you have no obvious options, there's
nothing you tan do so don't worry loo much
- if it's a fairly new machine, the chances are
everything will be enabled correctly.

There's an easy way in Windows to find
out what ACPI sleep states your system
supports. Open up a command prompt (type
end in the Run box on the Start menu) and
type powercf g /availablesleepstates.
This will list all the available states as shown
in the screen below.

If it's not what yon expected your Bios
settings may be to blame.

You may see various timeout settings in
your Bios as well, plus many other obscure
sellings. Most of these aren't important, as
Windows will ignore them. It's only it you're
using a no n- AC? I operating sysiem such as
Dos that they may work.

Windows XP power settings

Open up XP's Control Panel and double-click
the Power Options icon. You'll see a screen
such as the one far right.

XP's power settings are lairly basic. There
are a number of preset Power schemes you
can customise, but you're limited to choosing

the timeouts for display power, hard disk
power, standby and hibernation. If none
nl the presets is to your liking, adjust the
timeouts in the relevant dropdown boxes
and click the 'Save as' button. Give your
scheme a name and you're done.
The problem with XP's power
management is that it's not that smart.
If you're doing a presentation, for
example, the display timeout may still
kiik in - which is why there's a
'Presentation' preset. There are no
keyboard shortcuts to the power
schemes either, unless ynm PC ships
with proprietary power-management
utilities that oiler this facility.
Switching between modes is tiresome,
but il you wish you can use the
powercfg.exe utility mentioned above
to change the power mode using a
batch tile or Desktop shortcut. Type
powercfg /L to list all current power

schemes, powercf g /Q <scheme> to see the

parameters of a particular scheme and
powercf g /S <scheme> to set the active
scheme. Note that you'll need to enclose the
name of the scheme in double quotes if
there's a space in the name, such as "Always
On". Powercf g /? will give you many more
ideas for using this handy built-in utility
Windows XP can be pernickety about
going to sleep on some machines, and the
sleep and standby functions don't always
work well, especially if you have lots of
peripherals and add- in hoards that might
not support all the correct sleep states. But
with a hit of testing, you cjn usually get it
al least into an SI standby mode, which
will save you a fair flit of power. Part of
XP's problem is that it's loo tolerant oi badly
written programs and drivers that prevent
sleep, whereas Vista is a lot more forceful in
shutting down badly behaved programs.

Vista power settings

Vista can he tpiite schizophrenic when it
comes to power-management sellings. On
the nor hand, it tries to hide most oi the gory
details with a simplified user interlace. But
i. hi the other 1 1, it id. il you delve into the
advanced sellings lliere are an awful lot of
contusing options. On the phis side, we've
found it is a lot more predictable - but not
perfect - than XP when it comes to sleeping.
To be tail, the preset power schemes that
Vista offers (type 'Power Options' in the
search box on the Stan men til are clearer
and less numerous than XP's, ollering choices

I'mv-r Opltaltt l'li.["'i In ",

PowiSctwrw Ainu PowiMsa A*<Fcod Hfeemese

Select Ihepowei scheme with the iron wfifcpnJe Mfbngt la
hi anifJUi Mat lh» changing ** ««imgi rain™ we natty

Sennga est fiit*w* On nm« kIwtw

i* \ -^- Plugged n

Main
tun ch nsrinr. Neva »] Mel ISmnt *|

tun en herd **i Neva

Sytfeni. fltanrtjy: | Newer

-- '

** «

•W. (Mm :

:--_

t*»

, ,. .. -

#t™tr (!■■[, |iil*|, pui (tletfLit |-!kil CtmpmMtt 1 [ ■ filllBielli 1 tt 1 ■!■■■■ —| fiMttfii
■W>' *lm±n rl *r chtu » ***, *M edlm«l fe .ha-|t*| * p.-* Hfci^ * rJ^u^L

1 ■■.--■

3 «™

0>; | | Cencrt

Above: XP's power-management
settings are fairly basic,
but still custom i sable

Left: The new user Interface In
Vista Is intended to simplify
choosing power-management

schemes

www.pcw.co.uk

WINDOWS POWER MANAGEMENT

based on the level of power savings rather
than on your usage model. But the default
"Balanced' plan is rather too conservative
tor serious energy savings - it's this that
gave rise to the stories ol excessive power
consumption and poor battery life in Vista,
rather than any innate inefficiency in the OS.

You can easily create your own custom
plans by clicking on Lite 'Create a power
plan' link on the left action panel. Any
existing plan can also be modified by clicking
the 'Change plan settings' link below its
name. This brings up a window where you
can change the display and sleep timeouts.
But click on 'Change advanced settings' and
you'll see a dialogue box such as the one
pictured, with a long list of extra settings.

You shouldn't need to adjust any of these
unless you're troubleshooting (see box., right),
but most of them are self-explanatory. There
are a couple of exceptions though, L'SB
Selective Suspend, PCI Express Link Stale
Power Management and Adaptive Display are
three that might bamhoo/le you. USB
Selective Suspend is mainly relevant to laptops
- it allows the OS to turn off individual USB
devices that are idle. It's enabled by default,
and you shouldn't need to change it -
disabling it might prevent Windows entering
sleep mode. This feature is also present in
Windows XP, but it is not selectable in the
power settings menu. You access it via the
USB hub's entry in Device Manager - click
Properties then Power Management.

PCI Express Link State Power
Management enables Vista to reduce the
power to individual devices on the PCI
Express bus. As PCI Express is a serial bus,
links to devices are constantly powered to
maintain data connections, unlike parallel
buses such as PCI, where when no data is
passing, no power is consumed. Again,
this is mainly ol interest for newer laptop
users (PCI Express is used for graphics
cards and Express Card expansion slots],
although it could help if you're trying to
get maximum power savings on a desktop
with PCI lixpress components.

Adaptive Display is a new feature in Vista.
When enabled, Windows works out how
often you wake up the PC by moving your
mouse or hitting a keyboard key. The more
often you do this, the longer it waits before
turning the display oil.

Home and away

Vista uses ACPI a lot more intelligently than
XI 1 . You shouldn't need to worry any more
about Vista switching itself off in the middle
of an important download or TV recording.
And if you're sharing audio or video Mies
with other Computers on the network via
Windows Media Player, it might not go into a
deep sleep at all — unless you change the
setting to torce it to (see box, above right).

Tips to help you get out of trouble

Microsoft Update can download additional
software updates and some hardware drivers

Ever since the days of the 'It is now safe
to turn off your computer' Windows
power-down screen, power management has
driven users to distraction But much of the
blame for PCs that won't shut down properly
is badly written programs and drivers.

Graphics, audio and TV tuner drivers are
notorious for preventing PCs sleeping or
giving screen corruption when your PC
resumes from sleep. That's why we'd
recommend using only WHQL-ccrtificd
drivers It's easier to do this if you use
Microsoft Update as well as Windows
Update - go to http://update.rn it losoft.com

Disk errors are also another gotcha -
make sure your disk is regularly
defragmented and run Chkdsk now and

again (right-click the drive icon and choose
Properties / Tools / Check Now).

As mentioned, XP is the worst offender
for not being aggressive enough with rogue
programs and drivers Vista is more robust -
if a program or driver doesn't respond to a
shutdown request, it will be forced to close.

Vista Service Pack 1 fixed a problem
with slow resume from hibernation on some
systems. If you don't want to install SP1 .
you can download the relevant fixes from
h ttp://supp crt .m it tosof t .com/kb/93 8 9 79 .

USB devices can also cause problems, if
they are slow to resume from sleep mode -
try unplugging them before you shut down
and see if the problem goes away

In Vista, if you haven't enabled Away
Mode, you may find your PC won't sleep if
you're sharing media files over a network
Away Mode is enabled via the advanced
settings menu for each power plan.

Check that your network card isn't
preventing your PC sleeping - find it in
Device Manager, click Properties / Power
Management. Clear 'Allow this device to
bring the computer out of standby'.

If you use sleep or hibernate mode a lot,
you should remember to do a proper
shutdown and restart occasionally to
prevent gradual program memory leaks
from making your system unstable.

Microsoft calls this 'Away Mode', where the
PC's SLrccn and audio are muted, but the PC
is otherwise fully on (SO state). No special
hardware support is needed to enable Away
Mode - it's all handled by Vista,

Pressing I lie [lower bum the Start

menu or your PC should, by default, put
your PC into the deepest sleep state possible
thai won't affect any ongoing tasks or
limning programs. Vista will check
every time your 'sleep' timeout is
reached, and when all tasks have
Finally finished it will go into hybrid
sleep if your PC supports this.

suggest you use hibernate mode when
closing the lid and S3 or hybrid sleep for the
sleep button. Vista's hybrid sleep will ^j,ive
you laster wake-up limes, but will slowly
drain the battery while you're out.

There are too many possible scenarios for
us to run through, but hopefully you'll now
be equipped with the knowledge to gel
Windows working the way you want it to. PCW

Timing is everything

There's no real magic involved in
conligmlng your PC's power
settings, but it can lake a bit of trial
and error to find the right sellings.

I'or laptops, you have a few
more choices, as you need to decide
what you want to happen when
you close the lid, For example. If
you're a Irequeni traveller, we'd

Vista offers a lot of hidden advanced
power settings, but only a few are
worth worrying about

ininii,i.>iitii.iuuiii

I '-■..! ,.

...

■ www.pcw.co.uk

computing

re you targeting
IT decision makers?

To contact key decision makers at end user organisations, or to find
suitable partners within the industry, there is no more effective
ray of reaching the right people than consulting our directories.

Market intelligence is our speciality

► mi IT users directory 2009

Imagine the benefits of knowing the IT systems installed at UK company sites
with a combined spend of £25bn. Add the names and job titles of 18,000 key
decision makers access and you've got yourself an immediate advantage!
Free 35 day online access with every purchase!

• mi IT services directory 2009

IT services represent a major growth area in the sector, be they managed
services, outsourcing or consultancy. Here you will find all the major
providers in six categories, together with smaller specialists and startups.
Free 35 day online access with every purchase!

• mi IT software directory 2009

If you have anything to do with the software market you need

With detailed profiles of thousands of developers, resellers, vendors

and integrators, this substantial volume with free online access supplies all

the information you need and more.

Free 35 day online access with every purchase!

or call 020 7316 9610

Trusted tests from the UK's best Labs

EDITED BY
NIGEL WHITFIELD

BLUE IS THE COLOUR

2008 was the year in which the winner of the high-definition disc
wars was finally decided, with Blu-ray emerging victorious over
rival HD DVD. And, with a clear winner, more companies have
jumped into the fray with drives. In last month's round-up of ultimate PCs,
several came with Blu-ray drives. This month, one of our group tests looks at
standalone drives, suitable for turning your PC into a high-definition playback
system, or simply for backing up lots of data. Find out more on page 101

High definition isn't just for discs, of course; more and more camcorders -
and even some compact cameras - now allow you to capture high -definition
video. In the second of this month's group tests, we look at software that can
help even the novice turn video footage into something presentable.

And hot on the heels of the Core i7 PCs, we also take a first look at AMD's
new Phenom II processor.

»«w PREM1EBE

CONTENTS

58
59

60
61

HARDWARE

Rock Xtreme XSL8-9550
Acer Aspire
6935G-844G32Bn
Sony VaiO VGC-JS1E/S
Lenovo Thinkpad SL400
Asus NSOVc

PERIPHERALS

Lenovo Thinkpad USB
Portable Secure Hard Drive
AMD Phenom II
Nokia N85
Truecall call screener
Humax Foxsat-HDR
Ricoh R10

67 Sling Media Sling Catcher
Western Digital WDTV

68 liyama Pro Lite E220SHDS

SOFTWARE

68 Tune Up Utilities 2009

69 Norton Antivirus 2009

70 Serif Digital Photo
Suite 2009

71 Magix Musicmaker 15
Camtasia Studio 6

GAMES

72 Grand Theft Auto IV

73 Far Cry 3

PC ESSENTIALS

76 Our pick of the latest

components and accessories

79 How we test

BEST BUYS

Best Buys

GROUP TESTS

89 Video-editing software
100 Blu-ray drives

Prices include Vat unless otherwise stated

OUR SCORING

Excellent ***** Very good **** Good *** Below average **

Poor*

OUR AWARDS

Editor's Choice The best product in a
comparative group test. Anything that wins this
award is of better quality than its competitors
Recommended: A product that combines great
features, usability and value for money
Great Value: Not the best in class, but a product
that has supenor features and performance for
the pnee.

Best Buy: The best product in its class in terms of
performance, features and value for money

■\

C&npu'ter

VrOnd

-.. :-
i ■■ '' ' ■ ?■»■■ '

Computer

vfirtdr^

/£* .

'Just about any
up-to-date PC will be
able to work well with
a Blu-ray drive'

Read the group test on pioi

:•'.' www.pcw.co.uk

REVIEWS > HARDWARE

GAMING NOTEBOOK

Rock Xtreme XSL8-9550

Flapship model lives up to claim of 'world's fastest laptop'

The Xtremc family is Rock's high-end gaming
notebook range, the flagship of which is the
XLS8-9550, a blisteringly fast SLI -configured
desktop replacement notebook

It's a big beast, measuring 394x299x60mm (wxdxh)
and weighing a hefty 6kg including the large power
brick; you'll only think it is portable if you're used to
lugging around a desktop PC and monitor to Lan
parties. In fact, the Clevo chassis is so big, not only
docs it have two graphics cards in it, it also has three
hard drives The gloss black finish is set off by a
brushed metal panel set into the lid with a large X
inset, and the panel also provides extra protection for
the screen.

At the heart of the XS LB -9550, as you might
have guessed from the numbering, is one of
Intel's 45nm Q9550 desktop Core 2 Quad
processors. Clocked at 2.83GHz, the
Q9950 has a front-side bus (FSB)
speed of 1 ,333MHz with all four
cores sharing 1 2MB of L2
cache Supporting the
CPU is an Intel
P965/ICH8R chipset
combination while the
pre-installed Windows Vista Home
Premium operating system is kept happy
by 4CB of PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 memory. If
you need more, the motherboard supports a maximum
of BOB

All this power certainly gives the XSL8 plenty of
oomph and it lives up to Rock's claim of being the
'world's fastest laptop'. It certainly is the fastest we
have ever tested, with a PCmark score of 8,680 and
managing a reasonable score of 5,209 in the more
demanding PCmark Vantage,

Its graphics performance is, as you might expect,
equally impressive. As mentioned above, it uses two
Nvidia graphics cards configured in an SLI setup; one
Ceforce Go 9800M GTX with 1GB of GDDR3 memory
would be interesting enough, but two produces some
startling scores: 14,099 in 3Dmark06 at a 1,024x768
resolution, but only dropping to 12,140 at the screen's
native 1,920x1,200 resolution.

When it comes to real gaming, using World in
Conflict's built-in benchmark at 1,920x1.200 it
produces an average frame rate score of 17fps - hardly
playable, but that was with all the game options set to
their highest settings. Reducing either or both settings
and resolution should give some much higher frame
rates, as proved by the 43fps average result from
running the benchmark at 1,024x768 but still with the
high detail settings

The 1 7in WUXCA TFT screen is excellent, with a
1 ,920x1 ,200 pixel native resolution and X-Class
coating, making it ideal for playing games or

Rock's XLS8-9550 weighs In
at a hefty 6kg, but has two
graphics cards and three
hard drives

watching movies using the built-in Blu-ray drive.
There is a webcam built into the top edge of the
screen's bezel, too.

The three hard drives can be ordered built into
750GB, 960GB or 1.5TB Raid arrays, though in our
review sample they were kept as three separate drives,
in this case Samsung 250GB, 7,200rpm units.

As you might expect for a desktop replacement
notebook, there are plenty of ports and communication
options, with most of the ports housed in the left-hand
side of the chassis alongside and above the optical
drive. Lan (for the Gigabit Ethernet), VGA out, four-pin
Fircwirc, and modem ports are joined by an Express
card slot and a 7-in-1 card reader. Two double stacks
of USB2 ports arc built into the right-hand side of the
chassis, while the rear panel holds a DVI port and an
S-vidco port. As well as the wired Ethernet you get
802.1 1a/b/g/n Wifi and Bluetooth 2.0EDR.

A notebook such as this is destined to spend its life
plugged into a wall socket but we tested the battery
anyway and it confirmed what we thought: just over
an hour using it in normal everyday use and just under
an hour for watching a DVD. Simon Crisp

Performance

PC.lll,ilkO-> 8,680

4,000 8,000 16.000
3UmarkQ6' 14.095

4,000 8,000 16.000

"T«l«i al ijmStS in 33-bit a*mr

Verdict

Pros Superb performance
Cons Heavy; poor ballery life
Overall A very powerful desktop
replacement notebook with a good
array of features, but with a price tag
to match

Features •••-*-

Performance -kiririr

Value for money *#*

Overall

• •••

Price £2,934.80
Contact Rock Direct
www.rockdirect.com 0845 688 0501
System requirements Intel Core 2
Quad Q9950 (2.83GHz) * 4GB PC2-
6400 DDR2 Ram • 2 1GB Nvidia
Geforce 9800MGTX graphics • 3
250GB hard drives • 17in WUXGA
display (1.920x1,200)*
802.1 1a/b/g/n Wifi • Bluelooth 2.0 •
2 -mega pixel camera ■ 4 USB ports •
394x299x60mm (wxdxh) • Three-
year C&R parts and labour warranty

www.pcw.co.uk March 2C

HARDWARE < REVIEWS

WIDESCREEN NOTEBOOK

Acer Aspire 6935G-844G32Bn

A laptop feast for movie buffs

Although Its not full HD. It's good enough for watching
DVDs or Blu-ray movies using the built-in Blu-ray drive

Launched in early 2008, Acer's Gem stone Blue
range of notebooks has recently been refreshed
to include Intel's Centrino 2 technology. The first
example of the updated line-up we have seen is the
Aspire 6935G-844G32Bn, a stylish 16in desktop
replacement notebook that is crammed with features -
and at an attractive price, just under £1 ,000

The Gcmstonc Blue design results in a stylish
notebook. The lid has a dark blue, high-gloss finish
that is set off by a gloss black bezel and keyboard
surround, with a matt black chassis bottom and grille
above the keyboard. The wnstpad with its textured
coating has been changed from the light grey finish of
earlier models to a darker finish, making the whole
thing look much classier when you open the lid.

Powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz)
processor, backed by 4GB of 800MHz DDR2 memory,
the 6935G has plenty of power to deal with everyday
tasks and scores a creditable 5,862 in PCmarkOS and
3,822 in the PCmark Vantage benchmark.

Powering the graphics is a 512MB Nvidia 9600M
GT. which does give a fair bit of games playing
potential (6.321 in 3Dmark06), albeit at lower
resolutions and detail setting, but the 6935G is aimed
more at being a multimedia notebook than a gaming
one and in this respect the 16in 1.366x768 pixel
resolution screen, with its 16:9 aspect ratio, is just the
thing for watching movies on. It may not be full HD,
but it's still good enough to watch DVD or Blu-ray
movies using the built-in Blu-ray drive, or to watch TV
on through the analogue/ digital TV tuner card.

Aiding the movie or TV watching experience is the
audio subsystem. Two speakers are hidden under the
grille above the keyboard, while the subwoofer is

cleverty built into the screen hinge and the system
supports Dolby Home Theatre.

The keyboard has good responsive keys, but the
controls for the Acer Cine Dash force it off centre - and
for the most part the jury is still out on the Cine Dash.
While it docs a good job of controlling your media
content with responsive, touch-sensitive controls, we
would prefer the space to be taken up by moving the
keyboard to the left and using the space on the right-
hand side for a full numeric keypad.

The touch pad features vertical scrolling and is
pleasantly responsive to use, something that is aided
by using the same textured coating as the rest of the
wristpad. Sitting under it are two fairly small mouse
buttons separated by a small fingerprint reader.

Storage is provided by a 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive,
which sounds a lot but once you start downloading TV
programmes you will soon find that filling up fast, so it's
a good job the Blu-ray drive is also a DVD burner. Built
into the underside of the front panel is a 7-in-1 Flash
card reader for easy access to your photos.

In terms of connectivity, all the usual suspects are
there to help connect the 6935G to the outside worid;
802.11 a/ b/g/D raft- N wireless networking via an Intel
Wifi Link 5100 card, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.0+
EDR - and a good old-fashioned modem.

Battery life is disappointing, but it's debatable
whether something that weighs 3.8kg (including power
brick) will be carried around all day. When we tested
with the latest version of Mobilemark 2007, the six-cell
4,400m Ah battery gave a life of one hour, 51 minutes
for the DVD Playback test, two hours, 34 minutes for
the Productivity test and three hours, two minutes for
the Reader test. Simon Crisp

Performance

PCimikOI) 5,862

4.000 &000 12,000 16,000
JDinarkW «,321

4.000 8.O0O 12.000 16.000
■ lested at 1.024 x 768 m 32-bit colour

Verdict

Pros Features; build quality
Cons Disappointing battery life
Overall Acer's Aspire 6935G is a
good all-round desktop replacement
notebook with an excellent feature
set and strong performance, matched
by a lower than expected price Lag
Features -kit -kit

Performance *#**

Value for money * * * *

Overall

• •••

Price £949.97
Contact Laptops Direct
www.laptopsdirect.co.uk
0870 1S7 0818

Specifications Intel Core 2 Duo
P8400 (2 26GHz) • 4GB 800MHz
DDR2 Kam • Nvidia Ceforce 9600GT
graphics with dedicated 512MB
video Ram • 320GB 7.2O0rpm
hard drive * Blu-ray/DVD combo
drive • Digital/analogue TV tuner *
7-in-1 card reader • HDMI out port •

■" www.pcw.co.uk

REVIEWS > HARDWARE

ALL-IN-ONE PC

Sony VaioVGC-JS1E/S

A stylish PC in a range of colours

■^^8^^ #4ft

The Valo VGC-JS1E/S produces sharp colours and
excellent contrast, which Is great for watching movies

There's one style of computer that doesn't
seem to have captured the public's attention
as much as it should have, and that's the
all-in-one design. On the face of it the concept of a
PC built into the back of a monitor sounds like a
good, space-saving idea, but people seem to have
spurned it for either a conventional desktop PC or
a notebook. One of the few companies to have
kept the faith with the concept is Sony, and one of
its latest all-in-one models is the Vaio VGC-JS1 E/S,
built around a 20.1 in TFT screen.

The design of the VGC-JS1 E/S nods in the
direction of Apple's iMac, the stylish design using a
single handle-like foot under the screen and a small
metal arm at the rear to provide stability and viewing
angle Our review sample was finished in brushed
metal silver, but the JS1 E is also available in black
and pink.

At the heart of the VGC-JS1 E/S sits one of Intel's
Core 2 Duo E72O0 processors, which has a clock
speed of 2.53GHz and a 1,066MHz front-side bus.
Backing this up is 3GB of PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2
memory, together with Intel's G45 Express chipset, so
although it doesn't have stunning performance it will
do all the everyday jobs reasonably well, as confirmed
by our benchmark scores of 5,092 and 3,230 for
PCmark05 and PCmark Vantage respectively And
it docs it all pretty much silently.

However, the one thing it won't do is play the
current crop of hardcore games, as it relies on Intel's
integrated GMA X4500HD graphics technology,
something proved quite well by the average frame rate
score of 1 1 frames per second (fps) when using World
in Conflict's built-in benchmark.

The 20.1 in X-black WSXGA+ screen is up to Sony's
usual high standard and has a native resolution of
1,680x1,020 pixels. It produces sharp colours and
excellent contrasts, just right for watching movies
on, but you'll be watching them from standard
DVDs, as only a Pioneer DVD burner is installed in the
VGC-JS1E. The screen's glossy coating does reflect
office lighting a little, but is by no means the worst
offender we have seen for this. Built into the top of
the bezel is a 1.3-megapixel webcam with dual mics.

The right-hand side of the unit houses just the
optical drive, while the left-hand side is home to a
Memory Stick slot and a separate SD card reader, two
USB ports, three audio ports and an on/off switch for
the 802.1 1b/g/Draft-n Wifi. The rest of the ports arc
on the back of the unit and comprise three more
USB ports, a Sony mini Fircwirc port, an optical 5/PDIF
port and the port for the Gigabit wired Ethernet.

The built-in speakers sit under the screen and for
monitor speakers they're some of the best we have
heard, again perfect for watching movies and
certainly loud enough, though they do tend to lose
what bass response they have and distort a little if
you turn them right the way up.

For storage Sony provides a 500GB hard drive but,
as is usual with a Sony system, this comes with a fair
portion of software preloaded to help you with any of
the multimedia jobs you arc planning to do. For the
audio side of things there's Sony's Vaio Music Box and
Sonic Stage Mastering Studio 2.5; for photo editing
you get Picture Motion Browser and Vaio movie story,
which also helps you work on your video files, along
with Win DVD S, and to burn them onto disc there is
Easy Media Creator 1 0. Simon Crisp

Performance

PCraarkOS 5,092

4.000 8.000 12,000 16,000

3DmaiHK* 1,101

■

4.000 ' 8.000 ' 12.000 ' 16.000

■ lested at 1.024x763 in H-M colour

Verdict

Pros Stylish, compact design
Cons Shame il doesn't have belLer
gaming potential

Overall Stylish all-in-one design, with
reasonable all-round performance
Features **■*-+

Performance ##-*

Value for money +*■**

Overall

••••

Price £685.08

Contact PC World
www. pewo rid . co.uk
Specifications Intel Core 2 Duo
E7200 2.53GHz * 3GB PC2-6400
DDR2 Ram * Integrated Intel
GMA4500 graphics • 500GB
7,200rpm hard drive * 20.1 in
WSXGA+ display (1 ,680x1 ,050) •
802. 11a/b/g/ Draft N Wifi •
Bluetoolh 2.0 • 1.3-megapixel camera
• Five USB ports • 487x157x408
(wxdxh) • One-year warranty

www.pcw.co.uk March 2C

NOTEBOOK PC

Lenovo Thinkpad SL400

A well-built laptop for business

HARDWARE < REVIEWS

The old adage of 'if it ain't brake don't fix it'
certainly applies to Lenovo's Thinkpad styling.
There have been some subtle changes to the
design over the years, but you can recognise the
familiar black slab across a crowded room. While the
matt black lid might have been replaced by a trendy
glossy fingerprint-attracting one, the Thinkpads are
still the well-built, secure notebooks beloved by IT
managers everywhere.

One of the latest to come our way is the SL400. a
14.1 in notebook powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo
T5670 processor speeding along at just 1.8GHz,
backed by 2GB of PC2-5300 567MHz memory.
However, data security is more important in Thinkpads
than fast clock speeds In any case, the SL400 can cope
with everyday tasks perfectly well. The same can be
said of the graphics performance, as it's powered by
Intel's integrated GMA450OMHD solution. The 14.1 in
WXGA screen has a native resolution of 1 ,280x800
and is available with an anti-glare coated screen.

The Thinkpad's keyboards have gained almost
legendary status and the SL400's is no exception. Well
built with no noticeable flexing from the keybed, the
keys themselves have a good response. The trackpad is
the same - responsive without being overly sensitive,
and it has both vertical and horizontal scrolling. For
those who hate trackpads there is a trackpoint and sets
of mouse buttons for both.

For connecting to the outside world the SL400
comes with Intel's Wilink 5100 Wifi card, which
supports 802 11a/g/n. You also get Gigabit Ethernet
and a 56K modem alongside built-in mobile
broadband, which comes with a free 30-day trial
courtesy of Vodafone Simon Crisp

Verdict

Pros Usual Thinkpad build quality
and securiLy features
Cons Disappointing performance and
surprisingly small hard disk
Overall The new SL400 is a worthy
addition to the family with a good
blend of features, security, system
tools and a reasonable price tag
Features *■*■**

Perform an ce iritit

Value for money **+*

Overall

••••

Price £574.99

Contact Lenovo www.lenovo.co.uk
Specifications tntel Core 2 Duo

T5670 (I.SGHz) . 2GB PC2-530O
667MHz DDR2 Ram • Intel
GMA4500 integrated graphics •
160GB hard drive * 14.1 in WXGA
(1.280x800) screen • 802.1 1a/g/n
Wifi • 3G mobile broadband * Four
USB ports • 336x227x34mm (wxdxh)
• 3 1kg (with AC adapter)

NOTEBOOK PC

ASUS N80VC

A stylish laptop for home or business

Hard on the heels of the most stylish netbook
on the planet, the S101, Asus brings us the
N80Vc, a very stylish 14.1 in notebook aimed
at the business user, although it would look equally at
home used in the living room.

Describing the N50c's colour is a bit of a challenge:
in some lighting the lid is black, at other times it's
more of a dark chocolate brown, while in others it has

a distinctive purple hue. But whatever the colour, it has
a high-gloss finish with an inlaid pattern of silver dots
and dashes, which is continued on the wrist pad.

At the heart of our review sample NSOVc was an
Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 processor, which has a core
clock of 2GHz, backed up by 3GB of 800MHz DDR2
memory, close to the 4GB maximum supported by the
motherboard The performance is pretty much average
for this type of notebook, scoring just 2,995 in PCmark
Vantage, but in the real world it has enough power to
handle the installed Windows Vista Home Premium OS
and any everyday applications you might run on it.

Powering the graphics is an Nvidia Geforce 9300M
GS card with its own dedicated 512MB of Video Ram.
so it won't trouble any hardcore gamers. As proved by
the average frame rate score in World in Conflict of
just 3fps (frames per second), no amount of tinkering
with the resolution or in-game detailing will give you
anywhere near playable frame rates.

The keyboard is comfortable to use, even though
the keybed itself shows a degree of flex, and the
trackpad has just the right degree of sensitivity. The
two mouse buttons have a reassuring click when
pressed and there is a fingerprint reader sitting
between them for extra security. Simon Crisp

Verdict

Pros Compact design
Cons Battery life isn't great
Overall The Asus design team keeps
on coming up trumps. The NSOVc is
a well-designed, well-fealured
notebook, equally adept at home or
on the road

Features ***+

Performance ***

Value for money *#**

Overall

••••

Price £614.31

Contact CCL www.cclonline.com

01274 471 201

Specifications Intel Core 2 Duo
T5S0O 2GHz • 3GB 800MHz DDR2
Ram • 14,1 in WXGA LED backlit
Colorshine screen (1,280x300) •
320GB 5.400rpm hard drive • Nvidia
Geforce 9300M GS with dedicated
512MB Ram graphics • DVD super
mufti combo * 8-in-1 card reader *
B02.Ha/b/g/n • Windows Vista
Home Premium

•' www.pcw.co.uk

REVIEWS > PERIPHERALS

PORTABLE USB ENCRYPTED HARD DRIVE

Lenovo Thinkpad USB Portable Secure Hard Drive

Protect your data from prying eyes

Z 5

]

^ft

twM* 4

^^^^

Encryption systems such as Vista's Bitlocker, or
third-party products such as Deslock, offer a
high level of protection but generally require a
correspondingly high level of configuration - usually
by trained IT staff.

The Thinkpad USB Portable Secure Hard Drive
requires no special drivers or software to work. It's a
self-contained unit comprising a small external USB
enclosure containing a 5,400rpm hard drive, protected

by 128-bit AES encryption. The top of the enclosure
houses a numeric keypad and a single status LED.

Plug in the hard drive to a free USB socket and
nothing happens, save for the status LED lighting up
red to indicate the drive is in Standby mode. This is how
the drive will appear to anyone without the coned
credentials. In this mode, the PC won't even recognise
that a drive has been attached, so there's no way of
attempting to access the stored data from the PC.

Keying in a valid password - in reality a Pin of
between six and 24 digits - switches the drive into
User Mode. The status LED turns green and you can
then use the drive as normal.

Up to 1 passwords can be set. To do this, you
must use a special key combo to enter Admin Mode
If you manage to forget all your passwords, you will
have no choice but to erase the drive and start again.
Vou can do this by using a special key sequence -
unfortunately, so can anyone who may wish to destroy
your data. Using the drive also requires a little thought
as it will lock itself if the PC is put to sleep, effectively
causing an unsafe removal when the PC wakes up.

The Thinkpad USB Portable adds a lot of security
with only a little inconvenience. Recommended for
anyone working with sensitive data. Paul Monckton

Verdict

Pros Hardware encryption; excellent
build quality; USB powered; no drivers
Cons Can be erased with a few
keystrokes; no read-only mode; price
Overall This is a simple and secure
way of keeping your data protected
buL costs more than a standard drive
Features ****

Performance ****

Value for money * *

Overall

••••

Price £99.99 (160GB) or
£129.99 (320GB)

Contact Lenovo www.lcnovo.co.uk
Specifications USB powered external

hard; drive * Built-in USB cable *
5.400rpm drive • Numeric keypad.
123-bit AES encryption in hardware •
Up to 10 user passwords plus Admin
password • Bootable ■ Non-skid
anti -vibration pads ■ 193g • (wxdxh)
88x1 2 2x22 mm * Three- year warranty

CPU

AMD Phenom II

The latest processor from AMD, in a PC near you soon

AMD's original 65nm Phenom CPU and
Spider platform launches were a bit of a
damp squib, neither really performing as
well as they should. Much better things arc
expected from the desktop version of the new 45 nm
Shanghai server processor

The new desktop part - code named Deneb -
has a die size of 258mm containing approximately
758 million transistors, comprising four cores and
will be better known as the Phenom II X4,
It offers far better overdocking potential than
the original Phenom. At launch in early 2009 there

will be two speeds of processor, with many
more set to come later in the year,
forming part of AMD's new Dragon
enthusiast's platform for 2009, which replaces
the older Spider.

The faster of the two new processors is
the Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition, which
has a clock speed of 3GHz, while the
slower Phenom II X4 920 runs at 2.8CHz.
Both will fit in existing AM2+ motherboards
with a Bios upgrade.

The new processors come with 512KB of
L2 cache per core, for a total of 2MB. and there
is a 6MB L3 cache shared between the four
cores. The integrated 128-bit memory controller
can be configured to read/write simultaneously for
dual 64-bit channels and can run at speeds of up
to 1.8GHz, supporting DDR2 memory up to PC2
8,500 (DDR2 1,066MHz).

Both the new processors have a voltage range of
between 0.875 and 1.5V, and a quoted TDP CThermal
Design Power) of 125W. For a platform to earn the
Dragon label it must contain an AMD Phenom II
processor, an AMD 790 series chipset and ATI HD4B00
series graphics. Simon Crisp

Verdict

Pros Performance; fits in existing

motherboards

Cons Price

Overall At last a Phenom that does

what it says on the tin

Features ****

Performance *****

Value for money ****

Overall

••••

Price Phenom II X4 940
£257.31, Phenom 11X4
920, £220.89
Contact AMD www.amd.co.uk
Specifications 2MB L2 cache •
quad core • 128Mbits/sec memory
controlled • 3GHz or 2. 8GHz clock
speed ■ TDP 125W ■ 45nm process
« Socket AM2+

www.pcw.co.uk

SOLUTH

3 DATES, 3 LOCATIONS

LAND

24 FEBRUARY 2009
GLASGOW MARRIOTT/

10 FEBRUARY 2009 ,
REEBOK STADIUM //

3 FEBRUARY 2009
HOTEL IBIS EARLS COURT/

Get closer to the latest solutions

New for 2009, Softworld runs in 3 locations around the UK!
Choose your most convenient show and meet with providers
delivering solutions to enhance your business processes.

• Save time by testing key HR and payroll products in one day
Enhance your expertise in FREE masterdasses and seminars

■ See software demonstrations and get face to face advice

• Attend with your buying team to streamline the procurement process
Take away a FREE Softworld Buyers' Guide

WWW.

;T»Ji*Yi»]|[»Pr«>

To boo* a stand tail Alex Sworder on 020 7316 9531

■■^WKWPSWWWKSKvWSW?-'- s//ffffiWf/f/ffif&//S?.'~'S,> ■';/,.'.'

^fiPAY

businessGreeru

IPP BASDA.

HhE Vma ^A« I : '

PAYper

GET A HANDLE ON
MARKET VOLATILITY

Adviser Academy is a unique training and development programme
designed to give you the knowledge and skills to develop your business.
You can also earn CPD points.

Adviser Academy will keep you bang up to date on a wide range of
topics via a series of digestible online modules, many lasting just 15
minutes. Which means you can get a handle on market volatility in
the time it takes to have a cup of tea.

But you don't need to wait for the kettle to boil, the market volatility
module is online now.

www.ifaonline.co.uk/adviser

Add it to your favourites ASAP

•^flr incisivemedia

JPMorgan ©

Asset Management

ADVISER
ACADEMY

Issued by JPMorgan Asset Management Marketing limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, Registered in England No. 28^553, 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5A}.

PERIPHERALS < REVIEWS

SMARTPHONE

Nokia N85

Good looks and an OLED screen in a small package

The N85 is the sleeker younger brother of the
N96; it's similar in size to an N95 without the
slider and its own slider feels positive and well
built. The case is largely black, with menu, application.
cancel and media keys lighting up when they're active
and fading away the rest of the time, giving a very
polished look. Push the slider down and the buttons
will either light up in media player mode or N-Gage
mode for gaming. The phone's a little heftier than the
N95 and feels more solid, despite being smaller.

It has an OLED screen, rather than LCD, which
helps with battery life and gives great, vivid colours -
though as it's OLED, you'll find the scrccnsavcr glows.
It's also great for movie playback.

At first the keypad looked similar to the N96, which
felt flat, but in use it's actually much closer to the N95,
with good tactile feedback, so you can text quickly and
accurately. The navigation pad can also double as a
scroll wheel, though it takes a little getting used to.

The software - S60 Third Edition Feature Pack 2 -
is much the same as on the N96, with support for
WebDav, and you can connect to services such as
Apple's i Disk and browse them in the file manager.
There's internet radio support (as long as it's MP3), as
well as the standard FM. and you can even share your
music in the car, thanks to a built-in FM transmitter

We do have a few gripes - the usual Scries 60
browser isn't up to par. USB charging is a welcome
addition, but the micro USB port means another cable,
and there's no socket for an ordinary Nokia charger.
The camera is OK, but needs pretty good lighting for
best results. And there's no edit button - if you want to
copy and paste, you need to call up the menu.

But those are mostly minor issues; this is a nice
phone - it's compact, has good battery life, good build,
and a great screen. The N96 may have DVB-H. which
is probably pointless in the UK, but it's the N85 that's
really the flagship in our book - and arguably what the
N95 should have been. Nigel Whitfield

Verdict

Pros Extremely good screen; decent
battery lite; USB charging
Cons Poor [MAP functionality
Overall The best N series handset yet
Features ickickir

Performance ick-k-k

Value for money **+*

Overall

•••••

Price £405 SIM free;
free on contract

Contact Hakia www.nokia.co.uk
Specifications 50x16x103mm
(wxdxh) • 128g • 7 6in QVGA OLED
screen • Quad-band GSM & 3G •
802.11b/g Wifi • Blueloolh • FM
transmitter • FM radio • USB2 •
Micro USB connector « Micro SD slot
(8GB card included) • 74MB memory
* Five-megapixel camera with
geotagging • Video capture up lo
VGA 30fps • WMV, WMA. AAC,
MP3 * Flash video, Real Video
playback * Assisted GPS • Symbian
S60 Third Edition Feature Pack 2

SMART ANSWERING MACHINE

Truecall call screener

Telephone add-on blocks calls you don't want and optionally records those that you answer

The need to screen unwanted phone calls
was once largely restricted to celebrities and
victims of malicious or demented callers. Now
junk calls are becoming almost as overwhelming as
spam email and arc equally tricky to block The
Truecall system is designed to do so with the
minimum of hassle.

The basic setup could hardly be simpler. You plug a
lead from the little Truecall box into your main phone
jack and your phone or Dect base station into the box.
After a few seconds your phone rings and you are

prompted to record a greeting message for callers
Pressing the star button during a call to or from a
number will place it on a Star list of callers you will
accept and pressing the hash key puts it on a Zap list
of those you won't. Starred numbers are passed
straight through and zapped numbers are either left
unanswered (you can't hear the ringing) or played a
message of your choice.

Unrecognised callers, or those without Caller ID
(which include all from overseas), arc asked to identify
themselves so you can choose whether to answer. They
can be cut off if they don't reply, eliminating
automated calls, including junk faxes.

Options too numerous to list here are designed to
deal with just about any conceivable type of telephone
nuisance. Configuration can be done on the keypad, or
rather more easily via an indirect web interface on
Truecall's remote server, which carries an annual charge
of £15 after the first year. This also allows you to
simply paste in a list of Star or Zap numbers. Holding
down a button on the Truecall box sets up a dial-up
link that synchronises data with the server.

You can pick up your messages remotely by calling
your own number and calls can be recorded with the
aid of an optional module. Clive Akass

Verdict

Pros Easy preliminary setup. Neat
and effective

Cons PC users might prefer focal
control rather than via a server at a
small but not insignificant cosl
Overall Fine-tuning messages and
configuration will take time but is
worth the effort. Works well as a
smart answering machine and
(optionally) call recorder
Features irirkit

Performance ***+

Value for money * * *

Overall

••••

Price £97.50 (70-hour
recorder module £24;
140-hour £40; Optional
server annual charge £15
after first year)
Contact www.truecall.co.uk
Specifications Recording software
requires Windows XP or Vista • USB
SD card reader supplied • Web access
facilitates configuration but not
absolutely necessary

:" WWW.pCW.CO.uk

REVIEWS > PERIPHERALS

DIGITAL TV RECORDER

Humax Foxsat-HDR

The first hard drive recorder for Freesat

The Humax Foxsat-HDR is the first device for
Freesat+, the branding being used for hard disk
recorders on the BBC/JTV-backed Freesat
satellite service (www.pcw.co.uk/2224159) It's a slim
standard -width device with a front panel featuring just
a bright display that shows channel and recording
names. There's also a standby button and a power
switch on the rear, along with the connectors. Inside is
a 320GB hard disk and one of the latest systcm-on-a-
chip PVR designs

For full functionality you'll need two satellite feeds;
the Humax detects whether you have them or not
during initial installation, then asks you for your
postcode - so you get the nght BBC and ITV regions -
and scans for channels, of which there are around 140
so far. including radio and regional variations.

Picture quality is, on the whole, excellent via
HDMI. though little can redeem the low bit rates on
some SD satellite channels. And with two feeds, you

can record two channels
simultaneously; with just one, the
box dims out those channels you
can't select. Picture quality from
BBC HD is stunning, but the claim
of space to record 80 hours of HD
content is a bit optimistic - we reckon it would be
around half that.

There are quirks, though; press the Record button
when in the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) and you
just get a single recording of that programme. To get a
series recorded you press OK instead, then answer
successive questions about recording the scries and the
HD version if available. We'd like this to be simpler and
to be able to delete programmes more easily and faster.
You can't customise the EPG either

But there are plenty of good touches: you can
archive programmes (though not presently BBC HD) to
a USB hard drive and the Ethernet port will allow
iPlayer access in future. There are configurable 'skip'
options that mean you can avoid adverts easily too. In
day-to-day use we had few problems and no missed
recordings - but as with Freeview+ you will be at the
mercy of the broadcasters sending the right signals for
series and programme over- runs. Nigel Whitfield

Verdict

Pros Great pictures on HD; easy to

use; PC archiving

Cons Some interface quirks; remote

design; not ideal for multi-satellite

users

Overall If you want to record

Freesal, this is a great choice, with

plenty of potential too

Features *■*-#*

Perform an ce iritit

Value for money ic-k-k-k

Overall

••••

Price f 293

Contact hi umax,
www.humaxdigital.com/uk
Specifications Twin satellite tuners *
HD and SD reception • USB2 host •
320GB hard drive • HDMI • 2 Scart •
Optical audio output • Ethernet « SD
upscating to 1080i

COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERA

Ricoh R10

The latest Ricoh camera offers subtle improvements over the popular R8

At its launch, the R8 brought with it many new
features, not least of which was a complete
physical redesign. However, upgrading from
an RB to an R10 is much like playing one of those spot
the difference games in your local free paper.

They share an almost identical body, both use
10-megapixel sensors and both are fitted with 28mm
wide-angle lenses with 7.1 x optical zoom, while
significant features such as dual mode image
stabilisation and face detection were already available
on the R8,

Once you've convinced your eyes to accept the
idea that the two cameras really aren't the same, the
subtle differences start to pop out at you - as long as

you're looking at the back of the camera, that is.
Perhaps the most noticeable feature is a larger, Bin LCD
which shares the high-quality 460,000 dot resolution
of its predecessor.

There's also an extra button, labelled 'Fn', While
this button doesn't add any new functions per se, it
does provide a very quick way to change certain
key settings while shooting. For example, you can
use it to move the autofocus target without moving
the camera.

To find other improvements you'll have to search
within the camera menus. With a feature borrowed
from Ricoh's high -end GR Digital II and GX200
cameras, the R10 is now equipped with an
accelerometer which is able to provide a digital "spirit-
level' display showing you when you're holding the
camera level. It also provides an automatic rotation
function when viewing your images.

Solidly built, the R1 feels like a real camera, not a
toy or a fashion accessory and takes pictures of a
correspondingly high quality. Ideal for enthusiasts who
like a little creative control, it's also very easy to use
despite its large range of features.

Perhaps the best improvement of all is that the R1
costs £50 less than the R8 at launch Paul Monckton

Verdict

Pros Build quality; Picture quality;

creative control; big zoom

Cons Very small improvements over

the RS; no manual mode

Overall A subtle upgrade from the RB

Features irft-kir

Performance **■*-*

Value for money * ** A

Overall

• •••

Price £199.99

Contact Ricoh www ricoh.co.uk

Specifications 10- megapixel ,

1/2. 3in sensor • 7.1 x optical zoom
(28 -200mm 35mm equivalent) • 1cm
macro • C CD- shift vibration
reduction; 1/2,000 seconds - 8-
second shutter speed • ISO 64-1 ,600

• 3 in TFT monitor wilh 460,000 pixels

• 12 scene modes • Auto level sensor

• SD/SDHC compatible • 54MB
internal memory • Movie mode *
Face recognition * Anti -shake system
« USB2 Hi-speed interface •
Audio/Video out * BOO-shot battery
life • 102x26x58 mm (wxdxh) * 168g

www.pcw.co.uk

PERIPHERALS < REVIEWS

MEDIA STREAMER

Sling Media Sling Catcher

Watch video from a Slingbox, USB device or PC

Sling Media is best known for its Slingbox
devices that send television over the internet.
This new product, however, plays video
rather than sending it

The Sling Catcher needs to be connected to
your network using an Ethernet cable, as there's
no built-in wireless. It Connects to your television
via composite, S-video. component video or
HDMI. and supports both standard Pal and high-
definition (up to 1080i) TVs

The Catcher has three modes. The first is to
watch and control a remote Slingbox. We tried this
with a Sihgbox Solo, itself connected to a cable
set-top box The results varied massively. With a
fast network connection delivering video at
4Mbits/scc. the Catcher provided an excellent picture
that looked every bit as good as the original, and

using the remote to control the cable box
worked fine. On occasions where the
video stream stuttered down to
below 200Kbits/sec, however, the
results were unwatchable. You'll
need a good home network to get
the best from this mode, but we
found that Sling Media's own
powerline kit did the job.
The Catcher can also watch video sent from a
PC's screen using the Sling Projector software. We
were sceptical, but the results were impressive: the
projector is easy to use and makes it easy to select ^n
area of the screen to send. We projected a two- hour
TV programme playing in Windows Media Player, and
it only stuttered twice You'll need a fairly powerful PC
to use the projector, though The Catcher can also
show video files on a connected USB device. This
works well, with a wide range of formats supported.

All in all, the Catcher is a good - if expensive -
product for a niche market. If you have a Slingbox
or want to watch online videos on a television, it
does the job well. On the other hand, we wish it
supported UPnP streaming, as well as Sling's
proprietary systems Tom Royal

Verdict

Pros All three modes work well if your
PC and network are up lo scratch
Cons FasL network needed for good
results: no wireless built-in: no UPnP
streaming; quite expensive
Overall Does its job well, but
expensive and limited If you don'l
have a Slingbox

Features *■*-#*

Performance *****

Value for money ****

Overall

••••

Price £200

Contact Sling Media
http://uk.slingmedia.com
Specifications Ethernet * 2 USB *
Composite * S-video * Component
video • HDMI • Stereo phono and
S/PDIF connections * Projector
software requires 1 ,6GHz Core 2
Duo or 3GHz Pentium 4/Pcntium
M processor * 1GB Ram

MEDIA JUKEBOX

Western Digital WDTV

Can this barebones jukebox compete with feature- rich rivals?

The WDTV from Western Digital is a digital
media accessory that, unlike most rivals in this
field, doesn't offer network access or built-in
storage. Instead, you must connect external storage to
one of the two USB2 ports to view media With an
HDMI and digital optical port alongside standard
composite at the back, it's well prepared for modern
HDTVs and supports playback of resolutions up to
1080p. Media files stored on attached devices are
separated automatically into video, music and photo
menus, with each offering a nice degree of control
over how files are sorted and browsed, including a
search function to filter large collections

The WDTV offers some impressive file support that
includes standards such as H.264, Mov and A/1KV and
Ogg and Flac for audio, alongside more traditional
formats, and is one of the most impressive we've
seen in terms of handling the wide range of
file types prevalent in today's market.
Performance is also good, with little or no
buffer time when a file is opened or during
playback. Responsive pause, resume and
browse controls make it a true joy to use. The
interface is excellent and in addition to being
well designed and easy to navigate, it offers a nice
degree of control, both through the settings menus
and during playback to zoom, pan, adjust subtitles and
audio support, with repeat and shuffle functions for
audio and slideshow control for photos.

The only real issue wc have with the WDTV is the
lack of support for digital rights management- en coded
content, but then again few rivals include this.

Overall, this is an excellent device that's well
designed and reasonably priced enough to make a
genuine argument for using your own external devices
for storing and playing back media and should be
considered a serious competitor to more feature-
packed streamers in this market. Paul (.ester

,,#

>iii » ■

■r'

Verdict

Pros Great interface: impressive
performance; good media control
Cons No internal storage or network
support

Overall The WDTV performs well, is
a joy to use and is cheap enough to
make it a worthwhile solution
Features ****

Performance *****

Value for money ****

Overall

••••

Price £78.99
Contact Western Digital
www.wdc.com

Specifications Audio support: MP3,
WMA, Ogg, Wav/PCM/LPCM, A AC,
Flac, Dolby Digital, AIF/Aiff, MKA •
Video support; MPEG-1/2/4, WMV9,
AVI (MPEG-4, Xvid, AVC), H.264,
MKV, Mov (MPEG-4. H 264) -
Photo support: JPEG, GIF, TIF, BMP.
PNG • Connectivity: HDMI,
Digital optical, Composite. USB2
• 303g • 40x1u0x125mm {hxdxw)

■" www.pcw.co.uk

REVIEWS > PERIPHERALS/SOFTWARE

221N TFT MONITOR

liyama Pro Lite E2208HDS

Full 1080p HD resolution on a compact 16:9 22in panel

Most widescreen PC monitors on sale today
come in a 16:10 aspect ratio - 22in
models usually providing a screen
resolution of 1,680x1,050. While this is perfectly
adequate for the majority of desktop applications, it's
not quite enough if you want to view a full-HD movie
in all its 1080p glory

The E2208HDS is different Having an aspect ratio
of 16:9 it's the same shape as a widescreen TV - a
little wider than the usual PC monitor It also supports

a screen resolution of 1 ,920x1,080, which means it's
capable of displaying a 1080p movie without losing
any quality through scaling. Previously, this resolution
would have required a considerably more expensive
24in monitor

For a low- tost panel, this is a very neat and tidy
display, with an attractive thin bezel and easy-to-use
control buttons. The on-screen display is very basic:
there are no preset display modes or fancy options,
but everything is very easy to set up and adjust. A
simple tilting stand is provided, which incorporates a
small clip to help keep your cables tidy.

Dual inputs, both VGA and DVI (with HDCP) arc
provided, but there's sadly no HDMI connection,
which would have been perfect for this display and it
could have been connected directly to a Blu-ray player
or games console.

In our tests, the E2208HDS produces a very
clear, sharp picture with very good contrast. The
colours aren't the most accurate we've seen,
but with calibration you can achieve a very
pleasing image.

If you search online you can find this display for a
very reasonable £150 which, for a full HD display, is
excellent value for money. Paul Monckton

Verdict

Pros 1080p resolution; price
Cons No HDMI: basic features
Overall Full 1O80p resolution from
a 22 in monitor makes this budget
model excellent value for money
Features ** +

Performance ***

Value for money ftAftftft

Overall

••••

Price £171.35

Contact liyama www.iiyama.com
Specifications 22in TN panel with
16:9 aspect ratio and 1,920x1,080
resolution * 1,000:1 contrast ratio *
10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio •
300cd/m J brightness • 16.7 million
colours * 248x0.248mm pixel pitch

• 5ms response time • Dual VGA
and DVI connectors • HDCP support

• 2 1W stereo speakers • Kensington
lock * Vc-sa 100 mount *
51S.5x193x286mm (wxdxh) * 4.2kg

SYSTEM UTILITY

Tune Up Utilities 2009

A collection of tools to clean and optimise your PC

im^fk'B 0**a

Thanks to the relatively high performance on
offer from even basic PCs in the modern
market, tuning and optimising a machine isn't
nearly as essential as it used to be. But for those who
do like to keep a clean house. Tunc Up Utilities has
been one of the most effective all-in-one solutions in
the past and has recently been updated for 2009. In
truth there's very little on offer here in terms of new
features, with most changes focusing on a tweaked
interface and tools that are already a fundamental part
of the package.

For a quick clean- up solution the software installs a
one-click maintenance application that can be used
periodically to fix the Registry, free up disk space.
remove invalid shortcuts and defragment the hard disk.
The bulk of control is found through the main interface
however, with the wide range of tools available split
into performance, clean-up, problem -solving and
Windows tune-up While quite a few of these arc
supplied with Windows if you know where to look,
there arc some distinctly useful components here such
as the Registry cleaner/defragm enter, undelete
functions to recover lost files and a shredder to
permanently delete data.

Many of the other tools, such as the uninstall and
startup manager, process manager and system
defragmenter are simply revised versions of the tools
supplied with Windows, though each of them docs
offer a greater degree of control. For those with older
machines the speed optimiser and performance adviser.
which can tell you which software can be disabled if it
is rarely used, will be beneficial and even though
there's nothing particularly radical here, we liked the
fact that the components are well integrated, easily
accessible and could make a real difference to how
your operating system runs. Paul Lester

Verdict

Pros Easy-to-use range of
well-integrated tools, one-click
maintenance; great for beginners
Cons Alternatives to many of the
tools are supplied with Windows
Overall Tune Up Utilities doesn't
really offer enough for advanced
users, but there are plenty of
genuinely useful features here for
beginners

Features irifk-k

Ease of use **■*■*

Value for money ***

Overall

• •••

Price £29.99

Contact Tune Up
www. tuneup-softwarc.co.uk
System requirements Windows
Vista {all versions) • Windows XP
SP2, 300MHz CPU • 800x600 display
• 256MB memory • 80MB free hard
drive space

www.pcw.co.uk March 2C

SOFTWARE < REVIEWS

SYSTEM SECURITY

Norton Antivirus 2009

The latest version of Symantec's award-winning virus and spyware scanner

NAV2009 gives Informative scar results plus detailed
Information through the service history dialogue for
those who want to know more

If you're happy using the Windows firewall or
have another dedicated solution you're sticking to,
anti-virus and anti-malware software is a must to
shore up system security. Symantec has been at the
forefront of this technology for some time and Norton
Antivirus 2009 (NAV2009) adds a range of new
features to address criticisms of both its own software
and rivals in the same market.

First up is Norton Insight, an intelligence-driven
technology that aims to save time by targeting
high-risk files, which not only speeds up scans but
means they aren't required as often. Automatic
updates have been improved with the new rapid pulse
system to ensure that your definitions are never more
than 15 minutes old. The software has also been
generally tweaked to give a better defence against
web-based attacks and improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of deep-clean scans

All these updates (and there arc more, which we'll
highlight below) are welcome additions to an already
impressive package whose interface now shows
real-time CPU usage to underline the improved
efficiency of the software. The main interface displays a
reassuring green tick if all is well and allows you to
switch eacii of the components on or off. run a scan or
view recent activity and quarantined files. Custom
scans can be created using a wizard-based approach
and can now be configured to run when the computer
is idle, and a silent mode prevents the software
interrupting movies or games.

The comprehensive range of security on offer
includes advanced heuristic protection, rootkit and
stealth ed item scanning and sonar protection which
detects threats based on application behaviour without

the need for a specific definition from an update.
Along with email, instant messaging, browser and
intrusion protection it's a very reassuring collection of
tools to guard against the latest threats. For those
running a network in the home, the software will also
monitor your wireless connection and provide remote
monitoring for other computers on the network.

Scan results offer plenty of information on exactly
what's been detected and why, and the security history
dialogue offers further details for those who want to
know more. Along with impressive usability and a
nicely streamlined interface, Symantec offers both
phone and online support if you get stuck or encounter
a technical issue.

In terms of performance we did notice an
improvement in both scan times and the load the
software puts on your CPU when it's running. Though
there were still some occasions when applications
started to chug during a scan, the progress should
make the software more appealing to those with older
machines. The anti-virus tools are predictably top-of-
the-line and have been certified by independent bodies
VB100, W.C.L 1 and 2, and ICSA. The rapid pulse
feature also seemed to work well - rarely straying over
10 minutes and never past the quoted 15 minutes
during our tests.

Overall, it's difficult to criticise any particular area of
the software. While there arc a few minor holes, such
as the lack of parental control, it covers all the main
requirements. However, it's the price that may put
off those who prioritise value for money. While it is
one of the best solutions of this type, NAV20O9 costs
around the same as some of the cheaper all-in-one
suites out there. Paul (.ester

Verdict

Pros Comprehensive degree of

protection; effective scanning tools;

easy lo use

Cons Still a little resource-hungry:

expensive

Overall Despite the price NAV2O09

should be considered one of the most

effective anti-virus/anti-spyware tools

on the market

Features *■**+

Ease of use ****

Value for money ***

Overall

•*•*

Price £39.99 (three PCs,
one year)
Contact Symantec
www.symantcc.com
System requirements Vista Home
Basic/ Ho me Pre mi urn/ Business/
Ultimate » XP wrth Sen/ice Pack 2
Home/XP Pro/XP Media Center
Edition • 30OMHz or faster processor
« 256MB of Ram • 150MB ol
available hard disk space

•' www.pcw.co.uk

REVIEWS > SOFTWARE

PHOTO-EDITING SOFTWARE

Serif Digital Photo Suite 2009

A basic, but affordable, photo-retouching program

Digital Photo Suite provides simple tool: for retouching
and organising collections of photos

Serif's new Digital Photo Suite 2009 doesn't have
the powerful editing took of more expensive
rivals such as Photoshop Elements, but it provides
a good basic set of photo-editing tools at a very
affordable price.

The suite consists of two programs, Album Plus and
Panorama Plus, although it's the first of these two that
provides the main organising and editing features
When you launch Album Plus for the first time, it asks
if you want to import a set of photos from a specific
folder, or simply let the program search your entire
hard disk. Like most photo organisers, Album Plus
allows you to browse and search for pictures using
settings such as date, rating, or keywords, and you can
switch from thumbnail previews of large groups to
zoomed-in views of individual images simply by
double-clicking on any picture. There's nothing
particularly innovative here, but the program's
photo-management features are straightforward and
simple to use.

In addition. Album Plus includes three studios' that
can be activated simply by clicking on the Fix And
Enhance button at the top of the screen. The Quick Fix
Studio allows you to perform simple editing tasks such
as adjusting brightness and contrast, colour saturation,
cropping an image, or removing red-eye Each tool is
represented by a large icon in the toolbar that runs
across the top of the screen, and when you click on
any tool a second panel on the left-hand edge of the
screen displays tips that explain how it works. There's
also a useful split-screen option that displays before'
and 'after' versions of your photo so that you can see
how your changes will work. And, as well as the
standard 'Undo' command, there's a 'revert' option

The Makeover Studio works in a similar fashion, but
provides tools designed specifically for working with
portrait photographs. There are options for whitening
teeth, removing dark circles from under eyes,
smoothing out wrinkles, and even a 'fake tan' option.

Instant Artist Studio allows you to create effects
such as a pencil sketch, oil paints and watercolours and
impressionist or expressionist paintings. These filters
produce mixed results though - sometimes they can be
quite effective, while you can just as easily end up with
a big blotchy mess of colour.

The three studios are all easy to use, so even
complete beginners will be able to tidy up their photos
quickly. Our only real complaint is that the program
can be a little sluggish when working with very large,
high-resolution images (we tested it on a 1.8GHz
Pentium 4 laptop).

When you've finished editing, the final option is the
Create And Share button. This allows you to upload
photos to Facebook or Flickr, or save them as a Flash
video file that can be uploaded to sites such as
Youtube. You carl print a variety of documents such as
calendars and greetings cards, or the Panorama Plus
program can be used to 'stitch' together a scries of
overlapping landscape photos.

Admittedly, Digital Photo Suite doesn't provide the
precise editing tools or the wide range of special effects
filters that you can find in programs such as Photoshop
Elements or Corel's Paint Shop Pro. This means you're
essentially limited to fixing flaws in your photos, rather
than being able to creatively modify or combine photos
to create new images. However, it is a good tool for
newcomers who don't want to spend a lot of money
on more advanced editing program. Cliff Joseph

Verdict

Pros Affordable: easy to use
Cons Limited creative tools, can be
slow when handling high-res photos
Overall It's no Photoshop, but
provides an affordable option for
fixing simple flaws in photos
Features * + +

Ease ol use ***+

Value for money ■*-■*-*

Overall

• ••••

Price £29.99

Contact www.serif.com
System requirements 500MHz
processor, with Windows XP or Vista
« 512Mb Ram • 650MB hard disk «
Internet access for file-sharing options

www.pcw.co.uk

SOFTWARE < REVIEWS

AUDIO SOFTWARE

Magix Musicmaker 15

Create your own songs with this easy-to-use music program

The success of Apple's Garagcband on the Mac
has proved there's a demand fof easy-to-use
music software that will allow budding young
musicians to create their own songs on their home
computer. Musicmaker from Magix attempts to
provide a similar set of music tools for the PC, and this
latest version includes features aimed at beginners.

The program's welcome screen allows you to start
a new project from scratch, but you can also ask it to
play a tutorial video or load one of several demo
songs, to give you an idea how the program works.

When you enter the mam program interface, you
see a series of tracks running across the top half of the
screen This is where you arrange the pre-programmed
'bops' and other sounds that will make up your song
arrangement. The lower half of the screen is occupied
by the Media Pool, which contains the program's
built-in collection of loops and sounds.

The program now allows you to switch into 'Easy'
mode by pressing a button at the top of the screen.
This hides some of the more advanced tools that might
confuse new users and displays a large 'Infobox' in the
bottom -right corner of the screen. When you place the
mouse over any tool or button, the Infobox provides a
quick explanation of how that tool works.

To make things really easy, there's a '5ongmakcr'
option that can automatically create a song for you.
When you click the Songmaker button in the toolbar it
asks you to select a musical style, as well as a selection
of instruments to include in the song - you can even
ask it to add one of its prerecorded vocal tracks too.

The manual has a tendency to throw around jargon
such as 'Midi' without explaining it dearly, so there's
some room for improvement. However, features such
as the Songmaker and Infobox provide a nice, simple
introduction to the music-making process. Cliff Joseph

Verdict

Pros New features provide extra help
for novice musicians
Cons The manual's a bit jargon-heavy
Overall It's a little pricey for
beginners, but Musicmaker will grow
with you as you gain experience.
Features ****

Ease of use ■*■*■•*

Value for money *#-*

Overall

••••

Price £44.99 (download)
or £52.98 (boxed)
Contact Magix www magix com/ uk
System requirements

Windows 2000, XP or Vista •
1GHz processor • DVD- Rom drive
* 3GB hard disk space

SCREEN VIDEO CAPTURE

Camtasia Studio 6

Record and edit desktop movies

Camtasia Studio 6 is the latest version of
Techsmith's desktop screen capture application
Aimed at those who need to produce polished,
professional presentations such as application training
materials, there are two elements to the package: a
screen capture recording application and an editor.

There's not much to say about the first, other than
it's supremely easy to use and can be configured for
different screen sizes and capture areas. The editor is
comparable with a fully fledged video-editing

application, with features for editing on-screen action

Possibly the most useful of these is a tracking
feature that automatically zooms in on the cursor to
provide close-up shots of important actions such as
menu selections and button clicks.

This new release adds a number of new video
output formats including H.264, which replaces flv in
the Blog and Web output presets. Youtube and HD
display options are also included, alongside an option
to generate and upload videos to Techsmith's
Screencast.com video sharing site.

The program has good audio features; you can
record audio commentary during live capture or later,
and insert duplicate video frames to keep the action in
sync if your words run over time. This version permits
decoupling of the audio and video timelines to provide
further editing flexibility and a new 3D tilt effect
rotates and skews the screen.

The productivity enhancements, along with the new
MPEG-4 based output options, make this a strong
upgrade candidate. In the absence of competitors, other
than the more expensive Adobe Captivate, or a slew of
lesser shareware programs, it should also attract plenty
of new users. It's a shame that the price puts it out of
reach for all but professional users. Ken McMahon

Verdict

Pros Easy recording; capable editing

tools; good output options

Cons Professional price

Overall A capable application with

a feature set tailored lo Lhe

requirements of professional tutorial

and demo production

Features ***+

Ease of use * * *

Value for money *#*

Overall

••••

Price £227.50

Contact Techsmilh

www.techsmith.com

System requirements Windows XP

or Vista • DirectX 9 or later • 1GHz

processor • 500MB Ram • 115MB

of hard disk space

•' www.pcw.co.uk

REVIEWS > GAMES

THIRD-PERSON ADVENTURE

Grand Theft Auto IV

Gruesome but engrossing universe with more freedoms than ever

Cars, bikes and boats let you
get around at high speed

Assassination comes
easy to Nico BeJIic

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IV was the game the
American religious right tried to ban last year.
The fact that a man was attacked as he
queued up to buy this game in Croydon, south
London, certainly doesn't do the franchise's reputation
any favours.

GTA IV does have a ugly side. Not only can you kill
off key characters, but you can also pick up prostitutes
and take them on their 'final' journey

It can sometimes be difficult to sec why some
games, such as Far Cry 2 and Left 4 Dead, carry their
18-rated certificate. They have their scary shoot-out
moments but GTA IV is in a totally different league;
there's gratuitous violence, sex, foul language,
assassinations and robberies for you to carry out all the
time and if you're comfortable doing that in a video
game - and you might not be - then GTA IV has an
extraordinary environment on offer

It's defined as a sand-box action-adventure game,
where the only thing limiting your movement around
the game are the city walls. Cars, motorbikes,
speedboats, taxis, trains and helicopters let you whiz
around at breakneck speed.

Gone is the surreal nature of previous GTAs, where
humour, ludicrous behaviour and bright scenery were
key features. Instead, GTA IV features Liberty City
(with a strong resemblance to New York) with dark,
grimy streets, and business-like criminals

It also breaks with tradition by making the lead
character, Niko Bellic, an eastern-European immigrant
with a conscience (although revenge is his preferred
business method). He's supposedly in America to visit
his bumbling cousin, but it later becomes clear that he
has arrived to kill war criminals from his past

The varied characters and plot are excellent,
although maintaining friendships - an important
element of the game - is often tiresome. You have to
pick people up, take them out to dinner or to a strip
club and and return them home, all while you'd rather
be completing the next mission.

Other improvements include more realistic driving,
so if you make a fast turn you may end up going
through the windscreen. It's now easier to get away
from the police and, if you go for a drink, you'll get
blurred vision and lose some control over your
movements.

A superb new multiplayer mode has been added,
where you can join up to 32 different players in Liberty
City to race, fight, or play cops and robbers.

We expected our mid-range PC with a 3GHz
Phcnom processor, 4GB of Ram and an Nvidia Geforcc
GTX 260 graphics card to make the game look super
smooth compared with the console versions of GTA IV,
where the game is rendered at lowly 1,152x640 and
1,280x720 resolutions on the Playstation 3 and Xbox
360 respectively.

But despite our system's graphics card having four
times the peak pixel fill rate of both consoles, GTA
looks better on consoles. We had to turn down the
resolution to 1,024x768 and just 35 per cent draw
distance to get it working smoothly Odd texture
shimmering, occasional crashes and stuttering frame
rates suggests not much time has gone into optimising
the PC edition.

However, if you own a top-notch gaming PC and
have a considerable degree of patience, then GTA IV
offers 50 hours of exciting and engrossing gam ep lay in
a very detailed universe. Emit Larsen

Verdict

Overall An extremely impressive
environment with a lot of freedom,
but it plays better on consoles

Overall

• •••

Price £34.99

Contact Rockstar
www. rocksla rgames.com
System requirements Intel Core 2
Duo 1 ,8GHz or AMD Athlon X2 64
2.4GHz • 1 5GB Kam • 16GB hard
drive space * Nvidia Geforce 7900 or
ATI Kadeon X1900 with 256MB Ram

www.pcw.co.uk

FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER

Far Cry 2

Battle through 50 square kilometres of African war

GAMES < REVIEWS

Diamonds are a mercenary's
best friend in war-torn Africa

Brand power is the only reason Far Cry 2 is called
what it is, since it has a different development
team, a different environment, a completely
different set of characters and a different storyline to
the original game

Far Cry 2 docs, however, build on the original Far
Cry's lush graphics and large free -roam environment,
for which the original game received high praise.
Graphics aren't as crisp or detailed as those found in
Crysis, but the sheer size of the open world makes this
the biggest first- person shooter environment we've
ever encountered.

You play a mercenary who is sent into an unnamed
war- torn African country, tasked with killing an arms
dealer known as The Jackal

But things quickly go pear-shaped when you get
malaria and your target disappears. With the mission
on hold, your focus is to get anti-malarial pills and
collect diamonds - the currency in African wars - to
buy new weapons.

After a brief introduction, you can roam free and
complete any mission you please. Soldiers on both
sides of the conflict take shots at you wherever you go.
so building relationships with other mercenaries is very
important Encounters with the mercenaries, enemy
soldiers and a journalist arc all sprinkled in with some
excellent voice acting.

The biggest innovation in Far Cry 2, however, is
the long flammable grass present across the entire
environment. Throwing Molotov cocktails near enemy
bases means you can fry adversaries without even
pulling a trigger.

Realism is one of Far Cry 2's main goals and the
sheer size of the open world certainly cements it, since

going from one point to the next regularly takes 20
minutes by car (with a few gun battles along the way,
of course). Guns jam as they age, so you need to buy
new ones, and cars regulady need fixing. Instead of
health packs that magically make you better, you have
to perform gruesome battlefield surgery on yourself.
Alternatively, you can inject yourself with some
mystery healing fluid, although that barely seems
more realistic than the old system.

There are serious flaws in Far Cry 2's realism in
other areas too. Although the world is massive, the
scenery is simply repeated all over. This includes the
same shop owner copied and pasted into every gun
shop across the country. It's also not clear how you've
managed to come by a useful map showing where
every enemy outpost is.

Combative outposts arc packed too closely together
and there's an eerie lack of civilians - apparently
they've all fled, but you'd expect a handful of poor
sods to be left behind.

If you manage to complete the single- player mode
(there's over 50 hours game play), then there's also a
relatively poor multiplayer option.

Our biggest complaint with Far Cry 2, however, is
that it crashed to desktop every 30 minutes to an hour
on one test system, but not on another. A 64-bit copy
of Vista appeared to be one potential problem, but the
internet is rife with users experiencing similar problems
in other versions of Windows.

Far Cry 2 is an ambitious game where the
developers have overstretched themselves. With a
bigger budget and an emphasis on quality rather than
quantity. Far Cry 2 would have been an excellent
game, instead of an average one Emit tarsen

Verdict

Overall A tot of ambition and a
decent storyline, let down by bugs
and a repetilive environment

Overall

• ••

Price £34.99

Contact Ubisoft Far Cry 2
System requirements Pentium 4
3 .2GHz or Pentium D 2 66GHz or
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or belter •
1GB Ram • Nvidia Geforce 6800 or
ATI Radeon 1650 with 256MB Ram <
12GB hard drive space

■" www.pcw.co.uk

Enjoy every issue of Personal Computer
World from 2008 on one great value CD-Rom

JANUARY to
DECEMBER

THE

COMP

IPLETE

2008 I NOW

^w^r

LIBRARY

100 s OF REVIEWS

IN-DEPTH FEATURES

TIPS, TRICKS & ADVICE

FULLY SEARCHABLE TEXT

i/ BROWSE
s/ SEARCH
4/ PRINT

(3^- Order online at www.direct-pcw.co.uk

H" Yes please, I would like to buy copies of Personal Computer World Back Issue CD-Rom 9 for just £1 4.67 + £1.99 p&p.

Please send this form to:

PCW Direct, Tower House, Sovereign Park, Market Harbourough, Leicester, LEI 6 9EF

Your Details

Title Initials

Surnai ■>■

Emad

Address

PflS'CQtte

Talf?phftne

Payment Options [ReaseirnditiaiejfourprererrediTifllhiQd of payment)

1 D Cheque enclosed for £ (made payabJfl To VNU Business Pubficatiofie Ltd)

2 □ Please dTa/oe £ to my:

VisaG MasterCard D AmenD Delia Q SwItcWMaBSTroDttssue No. _ )

cardNoj 1 1 1 i rrTTi rrm i 1 i i irrra

Valid from dH / LU Expiry Date CD / LD

Signal uratsL

_Today's Date _

PiiriioruJCaticijMV^^ are %>^^ Canute V^i^On^ RBfi*!ibpi7-N)*aikirgdijsftji ccWer,

J Tick ba L- recerw ntnetiai about products art snvce; fen tr* I ttfcfcN Med- i G'ouc bf er hL J TcK ta to ikbw mlnnaUMi sCulJ pudtcb and series "am s#Kt«J c stchtms by e-rai

Browse through each magazine

Includes full editorial content from all
13 issues of Personal Computer World
published from January to December 2008.
Simply click on the issue you want to read.

-^ Personal.

c °™ ter

CD JANUARY tu

9 1 2008

Search to easily find what you want

Find the review or feature you need at
the click of a mouse! Search by keywords,
phrases, products or authors.

Full years index at a glance

See instantly the Features, Reviews, Hands
On advice and Group Tests from each issue.
Click on the link to go directly to the article.

Order your copy today!

(5^ Online at www.direct-pcw.co.uk

15% VAT

°N JU PR00UCR

REVIEWS > COMPONENTS

PC Essentials

Our pick of the latest components and accessories

Toshiba MK4058GSX 2. 5 in hard drive
Price: £85.20
www.span.com
Overall: +**

If you're running out of space or your notebook or netbook, or
you wart a large drive for that ITX-bascd media PC, then you
should have a look at Toshiba's MK405SGSX drive - a 400CB
2. Sir drive that uses two platters (discs) to reach its capacity. It
has a 5,400rpm spin speed and 8MB cache.

Akasa Elite external hard drive enclosure
Price: £28.48
www.dabs.com
Overall: ****

The Elite from Akasa is an external bard drive enclosure that

stands out from the crowd, thanks to its leather finish. Under
the leather is an aluminium drive enclosure that has both e-Sata
and USB interfaces. Everything you need to get started is in the
box - both types of data cable and an AC power adapter.

Lacie USB2.0-FW800 PCI expansion card
Price: £74.90
www.lacie.com/uk
Overall: •*•*

Lacie has just released a series of five useful PCI add -in cards,
offering combinations of data ports for external devices. One of
the five is the USB2.0-FW8O0 PCI combo card. Easy to install.
tbe board features three USB2 ports and single Fire wire 400
(400Mbits/sec) and Fi rewire SOO (800Mbits/sec) ports.

www.pcw.co.uk Man

COMPONENTS REVIEWS

Kingston Hyper KHX16000D3T1K3/3GX

PC3- 16000 DOR3 memory kit

Price: £329.99

www.play.com

Overall: *■***

Intel's latest X58 chipset technology supports triple-channel

DDR3 memory and manufacturers haven't been slow in bringing

out three-module kits to support the new chipset One of the

first we've seen is from Kingston - the KHX1 SQ0OD3T1 K3/3GX

PC3- 16000 DDR3 kit - is part of its performance Hyper range.

Amphibx h20 Waterproof

armband for iPod Nano

Price: £18

www.watergear.co.uk

Overall: ++*

If your idea of relaxing includes being in or near water, then the

Amphibx range of waterproof armbands for holding your iPod or

iPod Nano in a 100 per cent waterproof environment may just

catch your attention The fully adjustable armband is good up to

depths of 3.6m and includes a Cleartouch window to allow you

to operate touch and click wheels

Akasa AK-967 Nero CPU cooler
Price: £29.99
www.overclockers.co.uk
Overall: •••*

Akasa's latest cooler - the AK-967 - supports Intel's latest Socket
1 366 for the new Core i7 processors, as well as the previous

Socket 775 and AMD's AM2 5ockct, with all the mounting
brackets for each socket included in the box. Cooling is provided
by three 8mm high-capacity heatpipes that run through
aluminium cooling fans.

Traxdata NSSD-S25-64-C04m Ultra-S

Plus solid state drive

Price: £689.99

www.traxdata.com

Overall: irk-k

More and more SSDs (Solid State Drives) arc finding their

way into the shops. One of the latest is the 64GB

NSSD-S25-64-C04m Ultra-S Plus from Traxdata, a name

more usually associated with optical media. The 2.5in drive

uses ultra-fast, single-layer cell technology, which stores one

bit of data per memory cell

'■■'■' www.pcw.co.uk

355 KING STREET

TEL 0208 222 8686

lco.uk

HOW WE TEST < REVIEWS

^Personal-
Computer
World

How we test

Performance testing is an important part of PCWs reviewing process, and to obtain our
authoritative results we use the UK's best PC testing resource. Here we explain why you can
trust our results and give you a tour of our most frequently used benchmark programs

At the core of our PC performance tests are industry-standard
benchmarks from Bapco and Futuremark. Sysmark 2007 Preview
is the latest Vista -compatible version in a long line of Bapco
benchmarks and it allows us, for the first time, to compare the application
performance of Windows XP and Windows Vista- based systems with the
same benchmark. It tests real- world application performance by running a
series of scripts to mimic authentic user tasks. It bads and runs full versions
of 14 market-leading applications, which are:

• Adobe After Effects 7

• Adobe Photoshop CS2

• Macromedia Flash 8

• Microsoft Outlook 2003

• Microsoft Word 2003

• Adobe Illustrator CS2 • Sketch up 5

• Autodesk 3ds Max 8 • Sony Vegas 7

• Microsoft Excel 2003 * Winzip 10

• Microsoft Powerpoint 2003

• Microsoft Project 2003

• Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9 scries

Note that scores from Sysmark 2007 Preview are not comparable to
scores from previous versions of Sysmark. All scores are relative to the
Sysmark reference machine, which scores 100 (sec below for details).

In PCWs labs, our staff have over 20 years of combined testing
experience. We know all the perils arid pitfalls of practical benchmarking,
and we contribute to the development of industry-standard benchmarks
through our full membership of Bapco (www.bapto.tom), the non-profit
benchmark consortium. Listed below are the main benchmarks we use
for testing PC systems and components

• Bapco Sysmark 2007 Preview - an application-based benchmark that
tests real-world system performance.

• Futuremark 3DmarkQ6 - the latest version of 3Dmark that tests
DirectX 3D graphics performance

• Games -we use built-in benchmarks in Far Cry and Fear to see how
graphics cards perform in a real- world games.

• Futuremark PCmark05 - a synthetic benchmark used to test the
performance of a PC's major subsystems.

• Test beds - we use standardised AMD and Intel- based test rigs to test
components and peripherals

There's more information about our testing procedures and benchmarks
on our Labs site at www.reportlabs.tom/testbed/bguides/benchmarks.php.

Performance

Sysmark 2007 Preview: 200 O

IOO ©

3Dmark06': 9.901

3.000 6,000 9.000

' tested at 1.024*768 in 32-bit colour

300

15,000

Far Cry [([»!= 60

O A score of 200 Indicates that the

system Is twice as fast as the

reference PC.

O The reference PC (Intel Core 2

Duo E6300 1.8GHz, 1CS Ram)

scores 100.

O An Nvidia Ge force 8600GT would

score in the region of 9.900.

O Fear: A score of 60fps (frames per

second) or higher Is most desirable.

A result of SOfps or above means

the machine can produce playable

frame rates at the tested resolution.

PCmarkOS measures memory, processor, graphics and hard drive performance

3Dmark06 is used to test 3D graphics performance
..JI'!',.l."'.UMM.fU.-.l'.t..>J.I.'-m^l^l^l^

\*im*m jai?n 12 &•& Gfe#vv_).^ —

i ■. - '.-Jj ,*

3efl?-n*. ta ftj 50 . <mas^wi

[JfflCMl UUlK

W»*WTl

:r 1 ,1 .1

IVAon]

6-LWWM

«G

.IflBBCl**^

■

f i :i ri.H

SVEmirkl' HHtf Pmtaw Rmtiaq

1"!

■

Sysmark 2007 Preview tests real-world performance using common apps

■■■" www.pcw.co.uk

REVIEWS > BEST BUYS

Best Buys

Your one- stop guide to the best- value products reviewed by PCW

^Personal.

Computer

Vtrorki M

BEST BUY

With countless products available, shopping around for a
new PC, peripheral or software package isn't an easy task,
but with our Best Buys guide, you can make a quick
purchase with confidence. We've split our Best Buys into 40 of the most
popular categories, covering everything from desktop and notebook PCs
right through to digital cameras and software.

Every month we'll update our Best Buys to include our most
recent reviews and check the current pricing, although that's not to
say you won't find a bargain online (try our price comparison site at

www.pcw.co.uk/bestprices) You'll also find the date of the magazine in
which the product was first reviewed, along with an alternative
suggested product for that category. If the Best Buy entry has a web
code listed alongside it, this means you can read the full product review
on our website. Simply head online and use the format
www.pcw.co.uk/ [web code] -for example. www.pcw.ca.uk/2208I43

Each Best Buy product has gone through our rigorous testing and
reviewing procedures, making this your one-stop guide to the best
products on the market.

BUDGET PC

Zoostorm 3364-2354

Price: £499
Reviewed: July 2008

""BBS" 5

www.pcnextday.co.uk
Web cade: N/A

This PC comes with a quad-core Intel

^ 1

^ /

Q6600 processor, 2GB of Ram, a 250GB
hard disk and a 19in TFT. The only

fi *

downside is the integrated graphics,

but with expansion opportunities

inside the case, this can be rectified.

ALTERNATIVE

Chillblast Fusion Sentinel

£699 www.ctiillblast.com Web code: 2211955

A well-buill, quiet PC with a quad-core processor, good all-round performance and
space inside for future upgrades. It also features a Gelorce 8800GT graphics card.

BUDGET NOTEBOOK

Samsung Q210

Plice: £675.98

Reviewed: November 2008

www.samsung.com/uk

Web code: N/A

it's not suited to gaming, but this

^^^^

notebook has all the benefits of

■..-<^V;,' ^

Intel's latest Centrino 2 platform.

^L ^

iW. ^^i

processor clocked at 2.26GHz, it's a

stylish workhorse computer.

ALTERNATIVE

Hi-Grade D7000SRI

£499 www.hi-grado.com Wob code: N/A

With a stylish chassis, decent performance, Bluetooth and HOMI, you get a lot for
your money with this 15.4in notebook.

HIGH-END PC

PC Specialist Fusion 4870X2

Price: £1,499

Reviewed: December 2008
www. pcspecialist.co.uk
Web code: N/A

A rare AMD-based system, this PC is
perfect for high-end gaming and
video editing. II features a dual-core
4870X2 graphics card, X4 9950
quad-core CPU and 8GB of Ram.
You also get a decent 24in TFT.

^j^^ j^^CV

ALTERNATIVE

Wired 2 F iie Diablo Extreme

£3,299 www.wired2fire.co.uk Web code: N/A

A fast and well-featured machine based on the new Core i7 architecture. It's
relatively quiet with plenty of future-proofing.

HIGH-END NOTEBOOK

HP Pavilion dv7-1000ea

Price: £899

Reviewed: December 2 DOS

\ j iIS^mE

www.hp.com/uk

W tr « JJn*V>MI

Web code: N/A

■ w y^.

Based on Intel's Centrino 2 platform.

m > ^

this notebook combines stylish design

m ^

\^^

with high-end performance. It also

has a Blu-ray reader and a crystal-

^K ^

clear 17in display. It's heavy, but as a

J*^

desktop replacement it's perfect.

ALTERNATIVE

Acer Aspire 89200

£1,239.99 www.acer.com Web code: N/A

Thanks to a recent price drop, this 18.4irt notebook is now even better value lor
money. Highlights include a 2.5GHz processor and Blu-ray drive.

www.pcw.co.uk

GET THE LATEST PRICES

Go to www.pcw.co.uk/bestprices

BEST BUYS < REVIEWS

WINDOWS HOME SERVER

Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo 1900

Price: £469

Reviewed: July 2003

■

www.fujitsu-siemens.co.jk

■

Web code: N/A

■

It might not be the mosl attractive

piece of computer kil, but this

Windows Home Server from Fujitsu

Siemens has good read-and-write

performance and comes with some

useful added extras.

ALTERNATIVE

Belinea Q.eenter

£386.58 www.belinea.com Web code: N/A

With a striking design and solid perlormance, the O.center is a great little
Windows Home Server with easy hard -disk access and good diagnostic tools.

BUDGET GRAPHICS CARD

-<^^^B-^^_

Palit Geforce 9600GT

■.«j*r

512MB Sonic

Piice: £121.32

i&^w^^n

Reviewed: June 200 8

\_- fjoUr^

www.palit.biz

Web code: N/A

The G94 GPL used by this card is

w^^iSn^I

i .

basically a cut-down version ol the

i '

G92 8800 and GTS cards, but with
fewer, yet faster- do eked,

stream processors.

ALTERNATIVE

Asus EAH240DPro

£32.89 http://uk.asus.com Web code: N/A

This card features low power consumption and, although not as fast as the

Radeon HD 2400 Pro cards, it's cheap and has some impressive video capabilities.

TFT (17-22IN)

Philips 220WS8

Piice: £189

Reviewed: February 2 DOS
www.philips.co.uk
Web code: N/A

This 22in IFT screen has superb
image quality, is evenly lit and with
a power draw of just 35W is also
extremely efficient. The icing on the
cake is Philips' excellent pixel policy.
A great buy.

ALTERNATIVE

Vtewsonit VX2255

£259 www.viewsoniceurope.com Web code: N/A

the VX2255's clear and excellent pixel policy, along with its multimedia features,

make it great value at E259, despite the distinctly average image quality.

ULTRA-MOBILE PC

MSI Wind

Price: £336.05

~^*iit . Lj

Reviewed: Christmas 2008

* i *4bJ* jl^W

www.msicomputer.com

trsr^'fu

3pj pft

Web code: N/A

iW~ ^

' ^^B

This netbook offers good battery life

LfSr

and a larger screen than many other

L W*

. ^

models. With 1GB of memory and a

160GB hard drive, the MSI Wind is

well specced all round and represents
great value.

ALTERNATIVE

Acei Aspire One

£200 www.acer.co.uk Web code: 2220487

This portable notebook combines a decent keyboard, clever storage system and a
great design. Its Intel Atom processor runs at 1.6GHz, backed up by 512MB of Ram.

HIGH-END GRAPHICS CARD

Sapphire Radeon HD4870

Price: £1S1.76

^^fl

Reviewed: October 2008

www.sapphiretech.com

^»:

Web code: 22233563

■F A

A fast card al a great price. To give

-^fl r£f*

an idea of the rendering potential of

^Wjr

Ihis card, il managed 46 frames per

second with 4x anti-aliasing and 4x

antroscopic filtering turned on

at 1,280x1,024 resolution.

ALTERNATIVE

lotac Geforce G1X 280 AMP Edition

£366.27 www.zotac.tom Web code: 2223078

Zotac's version of the GIX 280 is the fastest single-core graphics card we've tested.
The board also supports Nvidia's Hybrid Power technology.

TFT (24IN+)

Philips 240BW8

Price: £309.95

1 1

Reviewed: September 2008

1 1

www.consumer.philips.com

I 1

Web code: N/A

This 24in screen has a professional

feel and is well suited to any

application where you need to be

i^L^k^^^^^^^

sure lhat your on-screen colours are

accurate. It also comes at a good
price and features HDCP support.

T .

ALTERNATIVE

liyama B240JWS

£299.60 www.iiyama.co.uk Web code: N/A

The 24 in B24Q3WS from liyama offers a good balance of performance and

features, and is suitable for a wide range of uses.

1 www.pcw.co.uk

REVIEWS > BEST BUYS

SMARTPHONE

Apple iPhone 3G

£ from free

Reviewed: December 2008

^ ^

www.apple.com/uk

Web code: N/A

L ^B

It might not have as many features

Lm ^H

as some of its rivals, but the iPhone

benefits from outstanding ease of

\^^^s ^pc

use, a superbly stylish design, 3G

^B ps^^ 1

(new to this version) and an online

b^^^

applications store.

ALTERNATIVE

AIM Blackberry Bold

l from free http://eu.blackberrY.com Web code: N/A

Once the sole domain oi business users, the Blackberry now leatures a similar
level of consumer features as high-street phones.

SAT NAV

Tomtom Go 720

Price: £309

Reviewed: February 2008
www.tomtom.com
Web code: N/A

You're paying a bit more than you
might for a number of perfectly
capable rivals, but you get so much
for your money with the Tomtom Go
720, including a customisable display
and great performance on the road.

ALTERNATIVE

Mio 620t

£269 www.mio-tech.be Web code: N/A

Who's new software is impressive and, considering !he range of features, it's
priced competitively. The maps look great and performance is equally good.

DIGITAL CAMCORDER

WW ~ ^

Canon HV30

l^r

Price: £700

Reviewed: November 2008

www.canon.co.uk

Mm Wm ■ ■

Web code: N/A

With fantastic picture quality, this

camcorder is the one to buy if you're

iiiJHr,

looking to make the most out of
your HD television. It also has a great

*^ *"

selection of manual controls and lets
you edit your footage.

ALTERNATIVE

Panasonic HDC-SD9EB

£450 www.panasonic.co.uk Web code: N/A

Able to capture decent HD footage yet remaining light, portable and cheap, [his

Panasonic camcorder is a great buy for those on a budget.

DIGITAL CAMERA

Samsung NV24HD

Price: £249

Reviewed: October 2008
www.samsungcamera.com
Web code: N/A

With excellent build quality, a 10.2-
megapixel KD and wide-angle 24mm
lens, this digital camera is perfect for
taking detailed outdoor shots. It also
features 720p movie recording, so you
can capture video in high definition.

ALTERNATIVE

Pentax Optio A40

£219 www.pentax.co.uk Web code: N/A

This 12-megapixel compact camera houses some great features, not least of which
is the excellent image stabiliser. It also shoots great photos.

PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER

H H

Apple iPod Nano

Piice: £109

Reviewed: December 2008

Iki^i^i^Hr 1

www.apple.com/uk

L^L^I ^n^. H^H

Web code: N/A

W j^ V

Stylish and thinner than ever before,

[§]

the new iPod Nano features motion

sensors, allowing it to detect

I ^^^c

whether you're holding it in portrait

HV m^

or landscape mode, and a quick

shake activates the shuffle mode.

ALTERNATIVE

Sony NWZ-A815

£89 www.sony.co.uk Web code: 2203060

It might lack some ol the extra features found on rival players, but (his Sony

model excels in terms of audio quality and is easy to navigate.

MEDIA STREAMER

D-Link DSM-J30

Piice: £135

Reviewed: October 2008
www.dlink.co.uk
Web code: N/A

With its excellent usability and
simple setup procedure, this device
makes sharing your media collection
simple. It features an HDMI port, can
output 720p video and performs
extremely well.

ALTERNATIVE

Archos TV+

£249 www.archos.co.uk Web code: 2210545

With a 250GB hard disk, this device not only streams media across a network, but

can also store your entire video, music and photo collection locally.

www.pcw.co.uk

GET THE LATEST PRICES

Go to www.pcw.co.uk/bestprices

BEST BUYS < REVIEWS

LASER PRINTER

Brother HI-2170W

Prite: £149

Reviewed: March 2008
www.brather.co.uk
Web code: 220722S

If you're looting for a good-quality

monochrome laser printer for general
home use, this Brother model is
definitely worth considering. It's fast,
compact and even has a wireless
adapter. A bargain at this price.

ALTERNATIVE

Lexmark XSOOn

£301 www.lexmark.co.uk Web code: N/A

An amazingly good-value laser printer, considering it's not only colour but also
includes a scanner, allowing you to scan, copy and print at speed.

MULTIFUNCTION PRINTER

(anon PixmaMPtilO

Price: £139

Reviewed: November 2008

tf^m.

www.canon.co.uk

Web code: N/A

Canon's compact and stylish MFD has
a decenl mix of lop-notch quality
and fast printing and can also print

^0**^

directly to DVDs. Running costs are

relatively low, which is surprising

given the low price tag.

ALTERNATIVE

HP PhotoSmart (8180

£298.45 www.hp.com/uk Web code: N/A

An expensive, but hugely impressive MFD, the PhotoSmart C818D is packed full of

useful features and is also incredibly easy to use.

POWERLINE NETWORKING

Solwise NE1-PL-200AV Push

Price: £50

Reviewed: March 2008
www.solwise.co.jk
Web code: 2207035

You'll need ai least two of these to
gel your powerline network running,
but they're the best around. Based
on the Homeplug AV standard,
they're fast, resilient to electrical
noise and great value for money.

ALTERNATIVE

Devolo Dlan 200 AV

£149 www.devolo.co.uk Web code: N/A

Small and well designed, these Oevolo powerline devices use the Homeplug AV

standard and have pre-programmed quality of seivice rules built in.

PHOTO PRINTER

Canon Selphy (P750

Price: £110

Reviewed: October 2007
www.canon.co.uk
Web code: 2193769

It's a little bulky when in use, but
this dedicated photo printer can
produce high-quality prints in under
70 seconds. And a 2.4in display
allows you to perform basic image
editing before printing.

ALTERNATIVE

Sony OPP-FP90

£150 www.sony.co.uk Web code: 2196751

It's not particularly cheap to run, but this printer produces high-quality photos
from a variety of sources and is reasonably fast as well.

NETWORK-ATTACHED STORAGE

Qnap 1S-209

— ^^"Bi

Price: £254

Reviewed: Christmas 2007

^TA

www.qnap.com

^^^H

Web code: 2200223

If you're after a Mas device that does

more than just share files over your

network, this is it. You can schedule

1 l- —

Bittorrent downloads, stream media

to JPnP devices and install your own

drives in it.

ALTERNATIVE

Ate i Aspire Easystore

£499 www.acer.co.uk Web code: 2206105

This Nas device features 2TB of storage (other sizes are available), along with
wireless, so you can place it anywhere in your home.

WIRELESS ROUTER

Linksys WAG325N

Price: £99.99

Reviewed: May 2008

www.linksys.coin

Web code: N/A

It might look a little unconventional,

^T" ~ ■

but this Draft-N router from Linksys

performs extremely well. It also

\. "-^^^

features some sophisticated tools, has

VPN support and allows the creation

of virtual wireless networks.

ALTERNATIVE

Solwise Engenius Wireless-N Gigabit Router

£120 www.solwise.co.uk Web code: N/A

It might be a little pricey, but this router performed well in our tests and comes

complete with some advanced network filtering tools.

1 www.pcw.co.uk

REVIEWS > BEST BUYS

EXTERNAL HARD DISK

ALTERNATIVE

CMS Y2ABS-CM2D

Price: £175

Reviewed: Christmas 2007
www.cmsproducts.com
Web code: 2202396

A portable USB2 external hard
disk lhat weighs a mere 150g and
comes with built-in 256-bit AES
encryption. Inside the case sits a
2.5in 120GB S,400rpm Sata
nolebook hard disk.

Western Digital Mybook Studio

£204 www.weslerndigilal.com Web code: 2206075

This stylish 116 external disk comes with LSB2, Firewire 800/400 and eSata

interfaces for ultimate flexibility.

INTERNAL HARD DISK

Western Digital WD10EACS

Price: £185

Reviewed: January 2008

^^r_ ..- ^^S

www. westerndigital.com

W--:s

Web code: 2203061

This disk features four 250GB platters

to provide 1TB of storage. It includes

some advanced technology such as

Intelliseek, which calculates optimum

seek speeds to lower noise, vibration
and power usage.

ALTERNATIVE

Toshiba MK2035GSS

£79 www.toshiba.co.uk Web code: 2203064

Weighing just 9Sg, this 200GB 2.5in Sata hard disk is perfect for increasing the
storage capacity of your notebook.

AMD MOTHERBOARD

ALTERNATIVE

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H

Price: £60

Reviewed: June 2008
www.giga-byte.co.uk
Web code: N/A

With a wide range ol ports, including
eSata, and a good selection of
options in the Bios, this is a great
AMD board. Finally, after two years of
losing to Intel, AMD's engineers have
a winner on their hands.

EQS AB1S-RS690MKM

£46 www.eqscomputers.com Web code: 2204803

The cramped design limits upgrade potential, but it's a keenly priced AMD

motherboard that features an on-board HDMI port for HD video.

INTEL MOTHERBOARD

Asus PSE-VM HDMI

Price: £81

Reviewed: June 2008

http://uk.asus.com

Web code: N/A

This board has a great range of

features. With the integrated graphics

enabled, we comfortably overclocked

it to 3GHz with our 2.4GHz Core 2

Quad Q6600 attached, so enthusiasts

should take note of its capabilities.

ALTERNATIVE

Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2

£53 www.giga-byte.com Web code: 2202711

Considering the price, you get plenty of features on this Intel board, including
Intel's G31 Express chipset and ICH7 Southbridge.

PC CASE

ALTERNATIVE

Hipei Osiiis

£79.90

Reviewed: November 2008

www.hipergroup.com

Web code: N/A

Despite its low price, this case
features terrific build guality. And
with easy-to-use latches, swapping
out components is a cinch. It comes
with four 3.5in and five 5.25in bays,
and also looks great.

Akasa Omega

£139.81 www.akasa.co.uk Web code: N/A

Excellent build quality and some interesting design leatures make this a great

case for those who are often changing components.

POWER SUPPLY

Akasa Powermax 1000

Price: £135.11
Reviewed: March 2008
www.akasa.co.uk
Web code: 2207736

This 1,000W power supply has two
+12V rails and its single 13Smm
dual-ball-bearing fan makes it a
lot quieter than you would expect.
It also comes with a variety of
power connectors.

ALTERNATIVE

Enermax Galaxy 1000W

£233.83 www.enermax.com.tw Web code: 2164011

The 1,000W Enermax Galaxy power supply will suit those with SLI graphics and
other power-sapping components, but it comes at a fairly high price.

www.pcw.co.uk

GET THE LATEST PRICES

Go to www.pcw.co.uk/bestprices

BEST BUYS < REVIEWS

OFFICE SUITE

^ifeonal**

Microsoft Office 2007

Price: £357
Reviewed: May 2007
www.mkrosoft.com
Web code: 2183475

The new interface to Office is
something you'll either like or
loathe. We like it, but upgrading
comes at a price, both in cash and in
effort. Despite this, it's still the
leader in offite productivity software.

ALTERNATIVE

Corel Wordpeifect X3

£276 www.corel.co.uk Web code: 2149856

This latest version ol Corel's office suite includes tools such as PDF exporting,
along with improved compatibility with other office applications.

IMAGE EDITING

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

Price: £76.38

Reviewed: December 2008
www.adobe.co.jk
Web code: N/A

Some of its advanced tools and

special effects mighl not be required
by most amateur photographers, but
Adobe Photoshop Elements remains
the standard that rival image editors
must compete against.

ALTERNATIVE

Corel Paint Shop Pro X2

£79 www.corel.com Web code: N/A

A little more expensive than its main rival, Photoshop Elements, but Paint Shop

Pro X2 excels in terms of ease of use.

PC SECURITY

Bitdefendei Total
Secuiity 2009

Price: £44.95
Reviewed: January 2009
www.bitdefender.com
Web code: N/A

A comprehensive suite that's easy to
use, and has fast scan times and low
system overheads. With extra tools
including backup and parental
controls, this is a good all-rounder.

ALTERNATIVE

Kaspersky Internet Security 2009

£39.99 www. kaspersky.com Web code: N/A

An excellent security suite with top-class anti-virus protection and one-click
problem solving.

SYSTEM UTILITY

Acronis True Image 1 1

Price: £39.99
Reviewed: April 2008
www.acronis.co.uk
Web code: 2208669

True Image 11 is an excellent backup
and recovery solution that offers an
unprecedented level of control over
disk cloning, scheduled backups and
secure file deletion. And, despite the
range of features, it's easy to use.

ALTERNATIVE

Paragon Hard Disk Manager

£29.99 www.paragon-software.com Web code: 2205339

A comprehensive, all-in-one suite of hard-disk maintenance and backup toots
that's easy to get to grips with and comes at a good price.

VIDEO EDITING

Adobe Premiere Elements 7

Price: £74.75
Reviewed: March 2009
www.adobe.co.jk
Web code: N/A

With an unbeatable combination of
fun and easy-to-use features,
including support for HD cameras and
Blu-ray burning, together with
accessible professional tools, this is an
ideal tool for users at all levels.

ALTERNATIVE

SEgf**

Muvee Reveal

£53 www.muvee.com Web code: N/A

If you're more interested in simply getting good results than in opportunities to
tinker, this is an ideal package for home video editing.

WEB DESIGN

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3

A "OBF DREAMWEAVER," 5 !

Price: £393

1 ■

Reviewed: July 2007

www.adobe.com

Web code: 2186591

Powerful HTML coding and design

tools along with CSS templates

and Ajax widgets will help

^Sb

non-programmers get started. There's

-^P ^r

also a big emphasis on CSS, including
a CSS Advisor tool for newcomers.

f* jr^

ALTERNATIVE

Microsoft Expression Web

£260 www.microsoft.com Web code: 2185242

Expression Web is a very good web-editing suite if you accept the inevitable

Microsoft bias, and features CSS support and a powerful interface.

1 www.pcw.co.uk

REVIEWS > BUSINESS BEST BUYS

BUSINESS PC

Wl^^*~~~~ ■

Dell Latitude D531

Price: £586

\"M - 2 ' i J 1 .

Reviewed: October 2007

WcLwrtftt

www.dell.com

■Vi ;.^ iv.ull

Web code: N/A

r9t^T

With a dual-core AMD Turion

—^"^^^^S^^^h'

piocessor clocked al 1.8GHz, 2GB of

■ ~

Ram and Vista Business, Ihis is a

HL .^^^^fl

good budget model. It also features a

L^^.^^"*^ "*^^t^^Bl

built-in DVD writer, 120GB Sata hard

disk and both Wifi and Bluetooth.

ALTERNATIVE

HP Compaq dc7800

£593 www.hp.co.uk Web code: 2207533

the spare -saving design of this affordable business desktop is very compelling and
it can attach directly to an optional HP TFT screen.

BUSINESS PRINTER

HP Laserjet PISOSn
Price: £205.63
Reviewed: June 2003
www.hp.com
Web code: N/A
Compact, stylish and quicker than
it looks, this taserjet from HP is
a very capable small-business
printer and is stunningly good
value to boot. It also features an
integrated network interface.

ALTERNATIVE

Zebra PlOOi

£1,245.50 www.zebracard.com Web code: 2212221

A great device for small businesses needing to print plastic cards in volume.
It takes up little desk space and can print in full colour.

NETWORK SECURITY

ALTERNATIVE

Smoothwall Smoothguaid
1000-UTM

Price: £3,231.25
Reviewed: September 2007
www.smoothwall.net
Web code: 2194393

A comprehensive array of security
tools, load balancing and lailover
facilities, plus extensive reporting
options, mean Ihis network security
device justifies the high price.

Webroot Antispywaie Corporate

£22.56 www.webroot.com Web code: N/A

This is the per-seat price for a one-year licence, which is great value. It also covers
two key client security bases in one go.

NETWORK MANAGEMENT

VMWare Thinapp 4.0

r^ — ■ |

Price: £2,937.50

Reviewed: November 2008

^j_ ■ -*—

www.vmware.com

Web code: N/A

Although its cost may be an issue for

small businesses, Thinapp overcomes

many ol the issues associated with

deploying and managing applications.

It features on-demand streaming,

rsmSlK

USB key deployment and more.

_ — -^ —

ALTERNATIVE

Prefix IT Pref ixNE

Up to £2.94 per PC per month www.prefixit.com Web code: 2205651

Easy to install and use, this network management application allows you to keep
track of all the kit on your network and is perfect for small businesses.

COLLABORATION SOFTWARE

ALTERNATIVE

Nuance PDF Converter
Professional 5

Price: £99

Reviewed: June 200 S
www.nuance.co.uk
Web code: N/A

It may often take second billing to
Adobe Acrobat, but this latest release
is cheaper and just as good - if not
better. The only problem is there are
so many new tools to learn.

C2C Archive One Policy Manager

£40 www.c2c.com Web code: 2212370

this is a well-conceived and easy- to -implement exchange storage management

tool that can enhance performance and even reduce costs.

BUSINESS ACCOUNTS SOFTWARE

Microsoft Accounting 2008

Price: £149

Reviewed: February 2008
www.samsung.co.jk
Web code: 2207529

A late entrant to the UK accounting
market. Office Accounting 2008 is easy
to use, feature-rich and will shake up
the competition. It also offers in-depth
integration with Outlook 2007
Business Contact Manager.

ALTERNATIVE

Intuit Quickbooks Pro 2008

£299 www.quickbooks.co.uk Web code: 2203178

A sensible update to what is one of the most accessible and easy-to-master

small-business accounting packages around. Syncs with Outlook.

www.pcw.co.uk

Af:iicciiHiiiMiiwi

AMD Phenom Quad 9 8 50+ (2) 2.4Ghz
ASRock NF570SLI-ESATA2
SAMSUNG 8GB D DR800 RAM
MAXTOR 500GB SATA2 Hard Drive
SONY 20X Lightscrit*
ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO 1GB Hyper
MICROSOFT VISTA Premium 64Bit

- INTEL Core2Quad Q6600 (a) 2.4Ghz

- ASRock Penr yn 1 600SL1 (650i SLl)

- SAMSUNG 8GB DDR800 RAM

- MAXTOR SOOGB SATA2 Hard Drive

_ BASE Uj.

(S) £499.99

HIDETIC m

SONY20XLightscribeDVD+/-RW [NTE1 GTX98

nVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 7

600 W Power Supply 8c 25 CM Case Fan /q\ ( C Q Q QQ

MICROSOFT VISTA Premium 64Bit \T *"' J77,77

NVIDIA 7050 1 333Mhz Quad Board
SAMSUNG 4GB DDR800 RAM
MAXTOR SOOGB SATA2 Hard Drive
SONY 20X Lightscribc DVD+/-RW
NVIDIA GeForce 7050TC 512MB
MICROSOFT XP Home OR Vista H<

H.-L-Uhm

BASE PRO UNIT

. (fi> £299.99

h'A

AMD Dual CoreX2 5000+ <S> 2.6Ghz
ASUS M2A-VM Supporting Blu-Ray
SAMSUNG 2GB DDR800 RAM
MAXTOR 250GB S ATA2 Hard Drive
SONY 20X Lightscribe DVD+/-RW

'.\Ui ! *TTOM :m a "-: i; "?■''" T?" 1 ' *fTk\ ^j*v W* !• M»T*

U:l:):hin

AMD BASE

- MICROSOFT XP Home OR Vista Home

BUNDLE - CPU, BOARD & RAM

PHENOM 9850+ & NFS70SLI BOARD
& SAMSUNG 2GB DDR800 <® £169.99
& SAMSUNG 4GB DDR800 <2> £189,99
& SAMSUNG 8GB DDR800 <2> £229.99

CORE2DUO E2180 & BIO GeForce70S0

& SAMSUNG 2GB DDR800 @ £89.99
& SAMSUNG 4GB DDR800 (2> £94.99

CALL SALES ON (01270) 898104 MON-FRJ 9AM-8PM

15% HAT,

°NAU PRODUCTS

Erase and copy your

hard drive in just one click!

1 . Erase your hard drive and
drive in one easy step!

If you have bought a new hard drive Disk
Copy & Clean is the perfect solution
for copying everything to your new drive &
permanently erasing data from your old one.

2. Keep all your old files and
program settings

Disk Copy & Clean lets you safely move
all your programs, settings, preferences,
data and even your operating system
from your old hard drive to your new hard
drive in just a single click, You can choose
to transfer over your full system, or just
partitions.

3. Protect your privacy

Computers can retain personal information
such as credit card details, passwords and
files, With other techniques such as deleting
files, folders, formatting or even deleting
partitions, all of the data still resides on the
drive and can be easily recovered, but
Disk Copy & Clean overwrites the data
to make it completely unrecoverable.

Disk Copy & Clean

17.61

IkMf'

«i>

Avjnquesf

SatelnCmiylveryttUng
lo Your Haw Drives.
Femimnttvfme
am from Your

Wean

SAVE

10%

Buy your copy

today

FIRP £19.56

Siwortl «n lam *

n nit*"*" 1 .

fessional

An essential package:

s Transfer your hard drive at a click ot a button

t/ Supports all PC operating systems and existing
partitions

• Copy everything or just selected partitions

• Securely wipes your old hard drive, making it
completely unrecoverable

• Protect your identity - All private information
such as financial details, passwords and credit
card details will be overwritten

</ Creates a certificate of erasure

v 1 No need to re-install anything when you move

to a new hard drive
</ No installation required - runs trom CD

NOW £17.61

System Requirements: Bootable CD/DUD drive or bootable diskette drive,
Pentium processor or better, 32 MB of RAM, VGA graphics or better.

3 Easy ways to order

www.direct-pcw.co.uk 01 858 438883

gf YES. I would like to buy

(Enter eiuaniity required)

_ 15% l/AT

□ Disk Copy & Clean 0li ^PRODUCTS

ONLY £17.61

+ £1.99 p&p

Your Details (Block capitals)
Title Initials

Telephone Nn._

TOTAL

I^Sl Complete and post this form to:
PCW Direct, Tower House, Sovereign Park,
Market Harborough, Leicester, LE16 9EF

allow 7 lo 10 v-or^tng days lor dgfesry

Subs No.

[if known)

Payment pti ns (P sase ir i d eate your orelerred rre'^od o' payment) j^J SKed'Si™ ^

I J Cheque r-pltoed lor E (Made payable to VNU Business Publications Ltd)

[J Ptease Charge £ to rnyi

*■! J MajwCarrl l_J Amex [J raw IJ Switch/Maestro [J Issue No.

c^mm nnnn nnnn

tu nnnr

V^FromUQ/(J[

twi-yUatn J / UD

Persona) Computer Wclri arid Personal Coonpuler World Direct are published by VNU Bustier Rjblications, part of the Incisive Media
GroupJl Tick bOK to ifccewS hformaton about products ana services Irnm the Incisirva Media Group by email* Zi Tick box to
recede irrKxm&tkin about products and services torn selected companies by errtad, O Tick box if you do not want lo receive
jnfonriaticn about products and services from (he Incisive Metis Group by post/telephone. J Tick box if you do not want to

\>::u::ko. illh,.l i\i1iiv- nts :-. . I ;-r. J .=,:':■ %-\\ ::,fwi,:<>, h ■■!' v. :!:':■ t-.:.1 .,"■ i |: i ■:", t.v :ij;:,!, :w\\->.j\.o. (CODE PC 1 ?\

video-edit^ GROUP TEST

ON TEST

Adobe Premiere Elements 7

Corel Videostudio Pro XI

CybeHink Power

Director 7 Ultra

Magix Movie Edit Pro 14

Muvee Reveal

Pinnacle Studio Pius 12

Table of features

Advanced editing

Editor's Choice

'Video-editing software has
the potential to transform
your raw footage and help
you make the most of it'

Six-pack for
video editors

Which video-editing package can turn you from an amateur
to an auteur? Ken McMahon puts you in the frame

Digital video is experiencing something of
a golden age at the moment. Tapeless
high-definition camcorders and Blu-ray
disc burning are entering the affordable
mainstream, and dual- and quad-core systems
are more than up to the task of processing the
large amounts of data that high-definition
moving pictures require. It's hard to imagine
how things could get better.

But maybe not that hard Editing software
has the potential to transform your raw
footage and help you make the most of it.
Whether it's family holidays, a documentary
project, or commercial spots for a website,
your software can make a difference - not just

to the quality of the results, but in the time it
takes you to get there and how much (or little)
you enjoy the experience.

Our video -editing software group test
compares six of the leading consumer video-
editing applications on the market today. Most
of these applications share a core feature set
that includes capture from a variety of sources,
including HD camcorders, automated editing,
and DVD and Blu-ray authoring. So we'll be
paying special attention to what differentiates
them in terms of usability and quality of results.

We also take a look at what's available
beyond the basics, for those with professional
aspirations and a budget to match them.

•' www.pcw.co.uk

GROUP TEST > VIDEO-EDITING SOFTWARE

Adobe Premiere Elements 7

— Personal, i

Computer

World

Price £74.75 Contact Adobe 0800 028 0148 www.adobe.co.uk

Above: Premiere Elements 7 provides the choice between
a scenellne or 99-track conventional timeline view

Left: Smart tagging assigns content and quality-based
keywords to your clips

Adobe has skipped Premiere Elements from
version 4 straight to 7 so that it matches
Photoshop Elements 7, with which it can be
bought as a double package Elements applications are
based on their professional namesakes - in this case
Premiere Pro - but arc aimed at consumers and
hobbyists They cost !ess r omit very advanced features
and add others that make the task in hand easy and fun.

Premiere Elements allows you to add tags to your
clips so you can categorise and search them in the
same way you do with your photo library.

Smart tagging takes things a step further,
automatically analysing and tagging clips according to
their quality. If your dips are out of focus, shaky or
dark, they arc tagged as such and given a high-,
medium- or low-quality rating. Elements also
recognises faces in clips and tags them accordingly

Automatic editing is nothing new, so it's surprising
how long it has taken Adobe to get around to
including it in Premiere Elements. Adobe has made a
decent job of it, though, with a range of well-designed
themed templates and user-selectable properties. You
can, for example, choose the theme music or add your
own and alter the mix between backing music and the
video sound track. Premiere Elements includes the
Smart Sound Quick Tracks audio loop library

Instant Movie can do everything for you, but
provides scope for your own creative input You can
decide what to put in - opening and closing titles,
music, theme content, transitions and effects, titles and
DVD menus. You can also constrain the order of clips
to the sequence in which they were shot.

Video Merge is another new feature designed to
make the program more attractive to novice video

editors. Otherwise known as Chroma-key, or
blue/green screen. Video Merge superimposes one
video on top of another, making possible everything
from weather forecasting to flying carpet tricks. As
long as your 'on-top' video is shot against a plain
coloured background. Premiere Elements makes this
technically tricky compositing effect easy.

The default Sccncline, which displays clip
thumbnails, can be toggled to a conventional editing
timeline capable of displaying up to 99 video and audio
tracks. Video opacity and audio volume can be
controlled on-track using 'rubber band' controls,
there's a fairly sophisticated audio mixer (though,
disappointingly, no 5.1 surround-sound mixing), and a
full range of kcyframcable effects and transitions.

One of the things Adobe does best is make
power features from pro applications available
in Elements versions in a more accessible and
novice-friendly format. Hence, you can easily produce
picture-in-picture effects in this version of Premiere
Elements simply by dragging and dropping clips from
the media bin onto one another in the Viewer.

Support tor recording formats has been extended to
include AVCHD; the 'Get Media' button displays icons
for DV, DVD, HDV and AVCHD, or other hard
disk/memory camcorders as well as digital still cameras,
webcams and files on your PC hard drive. On the
output side you can burn DVD and Blu-ray discs,
output files suitable for playback on handheld devices
and upload to Youtube or your own website via FTP.

Despite the jiggery-pokery with version numbers.
Premiere feels like a mature consumer video-editing
application that has something to offer everyone from
the first-time shooter to more serious users.

Verdict

Pros Innovative new features;
accessible professional editing tools
Cons No 5.1 surround -sound editing
Overall Unbeatable combination of
fun and easy-to-use features and
power tools makes this ideal for
users of all levels

Features *****

Ease of use ****

Value for money ****

Overall

• ••••

www.pcw.co.uk March 2C

video-edit^ GROUP TEST

Corel Videostudio Pro X2

Price £67 Contact Cord0800 376 9271www.cordco.uk

my , ••*•> .i n i hU-

\JL\K3\\*J\.!W; : \\ i

Left: Videostudio has fewer video tracks than other
applications but makes up for It with versatile
overlay transitions

Below: Painting Creator can produce animated
paint-on overlays

This is the second release of Videostudio under
Cord's stewardship, having acquired long-time
video application developer Ulead in 2006.
Despite the Pro X2 tacked on to the title, this
application is aimed squarely at beginners and casual
shooters, with an emphasis on case of Use.

Corel produces different versions with different
price tags, but only the bundled software applications
differ, not the core features of the program itself The
standard edition reviewed here includes Corel's Win
DVD software player; the Ultimate Edition, which costs
an extra 113, includes Win DVD 9 Plus Blu-ray, which
can play back Blu-ray discs, as well as DVD Copy 6
Plus and Steinberg Wavelab LE 6.

To its credit, Corel hasn't messed about with the
Videostudio workspace, a seven-tabbed workflow-
oricntcd layout. There is one improvement, though:
you can now resize the three main elements of viewer,
library and storyboard /timeline.

You can work through the tabs in order - Capture,
Edit, Effect, Overiay, Title. Audio and Share - or
freestyle. Selecting a tab provides the tools and
content for a given task in the library panel.

In common with every other application bar one
(Muvee Reveal) in this group test, Videostudio offers a
choice of timeline or storyboard editing. The timeline
has two video tracks, two title tracks, a voiceover
narration track and a backing music track.

This might seem a bit meagre, but the two title
tracks provide plenty of scope for graphics as well as
text overlays, and a new feature extends the scope of
compositing effects by allowing you to add transitions
between overlays. You can, for example, add dissolve
or other transitions between picture-in-picture overlays

Videostudio has a decent range of effects and
transitions. Soft-edged mask transitions were added in
version 9 and this version includes New Blue film
effects - a suite of five customisable film effect filters
that are a massive improvement on the Videostudio old
film filters. Corel has also added new overlay objects,
frames and Flash animations.

The other major new addition to this version is the
Painting Creator, which is used to paint effects directly
onto clips in real time - a process known as rotoscoping.
The Painting Creator opens in a separate window with
the selected movie clip on the timeline as a
background. Using one of several adjustable brushes,
your strokes are recorded in an animated sequence that
is saved as a separate clip with alpha transparency. This
clip can then be added to an overlay track.

Videostudio offers plenty of labour-saving features.
DV Quickscan zips through a DV tape providing a
preview of the contents so you can decide what to
capture. A DV-to-DVD wizard automatically records
the contents of a DV tape onto a DVD, complete with
chapters, menus and a tern plate- based movie wizard.

It has good support for other formats, including
AVCHD. HD editing can put a Strain on even the
fastest systems, but Videostudio's Smart Proxy system
keeps things moving along by using low-resolution
preview clips, then replacing them with the full-
resolution clips prior to output. So, if you've just
bought an HD camcorder and don't have change to
spare for a PC upgrade, Videostudio is an ideal choice.

On the output side, Corel has added Youtube and
iPhone export to Videostudio's extensive share options
and the program has excellent DVD-authoring modules,
though Premiere Elements does it marginally better

Verdict

Pros Smart Proxy HD editing;
rudimentary rotoscoping
Cons Limited customisation options
Overall Good all-rounder, well suited
to those moving up to HD from SD
Features ***

Ease of use **■*■*

Value for money **-#

Overall

• •••

•' www.pcw.co.uk

GROUP TEST > VIDEO-EDITING SOFTWARE

Cyberlink Power Director 7 Ultra

Price £58.49 Contact www.cyberlirk.com

Left: Slideshow Designer does a great job with still
si ides how;

Cyberlink isn't the only application developer to
produce more than one version of its video-
editing program. Power Director 7 Ultra adds
Blu-ray writing and AVCHD output, but at nearly
double the price of the Deluxe edition.

Power Director's workspace follows the popular
three-panel convention used by Corel Videostudio,
Pinnacle Studio and others with a library window, a
storyboard /timeline and a preview window. The
only striking difference between this and earlier
versions is that Cyberlink has opted for a fashionable
charcoal-grey colour scheme. As with Videostudio,
you can change the proportions of the panels, but
only within narrowly defined limits.

Another common feature is the storyboard/timeline
workspace. Power Director's timeline contains tracks
for video, effects, titles, voiccovcr narration and music.
There's also a track for adding picture-in-picture (PiP)
overlays and this version gives you the option of
adding five extra PiP tracks, making six in total.

Pip tracks can be used to superimpose clips or add
from Power Director's PiP Objects 'room'. These include
editable frames, animated and static objects. Using the
PiP Designer you can edit the colour and appearance of
motion objects, apply preset motion paths and create
your own custom motion paths using keyframes. You
can upload and share your custom PiP designs and
other content to Cyberlink's Dircctorzonc site

Cyberlink has sourced other free content in the
form of still images from Flickr and audio clips from
Freesound used under the Creative Commons licence.
You can search for clips from both sites from a button
on the toolbar. You don't need a Flickr account, but you
have to register with Freesound to access audio clips

Like PiP objects, effects filters have their own library
- the Effects Room. Other libraries - rooms - include the
title room, transition room, voiceover recording room,
audio-mixing room, chapter room and subtitle room.

Power Director's Magic tools are quite original.
Accessed via a set of large icons next to the timeline,
these automate common tasks and range from Magic
Clean, which enhances image quality, reduces noise and
improves audio, to the Magic Movie wizard, a themed
template-based automated editing wizard There's also
Magic Music, Magic Cut, Magic Fix and Magic Style.

The Magic tools are a good way for novices to get
results quickly, but in the absence of any guidance or
explanation, you don't learn much. Another gripe is
that for anything longer than a couple of minutes,
Magic Movie and Magic Style take a long time to
analyse the footage and make something out of it.

The new Slideshow designer is far superior, both in
use and what it produces, to the Magic tools. It docs a
similar thing to Magic Style, but with still images rather
than video clips, arranging them using a style template
and motion graphics to produce a slideshow movie clip
complete with backing music. It's quick, easy to use
and produces first-rate slideshows.

As an introduction to video editing you could do a
lot worse than Power Director 7. It has a good range
of editing tools (including some we haven't mentioned,
such as subtitling) and new features such as extra
video tracks, Keyframeable effects and 5.1 surround-
sound support are all taking it in the right direction.

If you want to progress, it doesn't offer the same
scope as most of the other applications, though,
and the price premium for Blu-ray and HD output is,
in our view, much too high.

Verdict

Pros Good PiP effects;

great slideshow editor

Cons LitLte scope (or progression;

HD price premium

Overall Does the job, but little to set

it apart from the crowd

Features ** +

Ease of use *#*

Value for money -kiririr

Overall

• ••••

www.pcw.co.uk

VIDEO-EDITING SOFTWARE < GROUP TEST

Magix Movie Edit Pro 14

Price £59.99 Contact www.magix.com

Left: Movie Edit Pro offers three alternative timeline views.
Including a story board and scene overview

Below: Advanced features include keyframing - but it's
complicated

Movie Edit Pro manages to squeeze in a lot of
features and some powerful editing tools
for a reasonable £59.99. Included in the
price is Mufin Music Finder - a library of customisable
audio loops - and Magix Photo Manager.

Movie Edit Pro is available in two versions: the Plus
version reviewed here costs £59 99; and the Classic
version, which costs £39.99 and has fewer timeline
tracks and limits some of the other features found in
the Plus version. The installer offers the choice of a
light or dark interface style, but in every other respect
the workspace is identical - organised into three
tabbed sections: Record, Edit and Burn. The first is used
to capture video from the usual sources, including DV
and HDV camcorders and analogue devices

There's also the option to duplicate CDs and DVDs
and to access Magix TV and Media Centre, a separate
personal video recorder (PVR) and media manager
application. While we're all for including extras, adding
them to the capture interface, where for most people
they'll just add to the clutter, isn't such a great idea.

The editing workspace is busy, but well laid out in
the de facto standard three-way split. Movie Edit Pro
goes one better than most other applications in
offering a 'scene overview' in addition to storyboard
and timeline views. You can use this to organise and
arrange clips, photos, titles and any other content in a
linear fashion without worrying about timelines,
transitions or any other editing paraphernalia

The timeline itself can accommodate a maximum of
99 tracks, but when you add a clip its video and audio
tracks are treated separately, occupying two tracks.
Even so, 99 is a generous allotment, but we couldn't
see the sense in the default display showing 32 empty

tracks. Unlike Videostudio and Power Director you
can't drag to adjust the proportions of the interface
elements so, unless you're using multiple tracks from
the off, a lot of screen space is wasted.

The basic editing tools are well designed and easy
to use. The Media Pool screen segment is tabbed to
provide access to transitions (Fades), titles, video
effects filters and motion effects. The sheer quantity of
effects and controls is impressive, ranging from single-
click correction filters through preset animated effects
to motion controls for picture-in- picture effects.

There's plenty of scope for drag-and-drop creativity,
but if even dragging and dropping lies beyond your
work threshold there's an automatic editing wizard
called Movie Show Maker that will cut your clips to a
predesigned template. There's a good choice of
templates and the results aren't at all bad

Advanced features include keyframe control -
enabling the changing of effect parameters over time -
advanced audio mixing and effects. Disc authoring
features are well integrated, with a good set of menu
templates and automatic/ manual chapter point creation.

Movie Edit Pro 14 strikes a good balance between
basic and advanced editing, but too often
the advanced stuff gets in the way, making the
workspace cluttered and a little intimidating for
newcomers to video editing. And the advanced
controls themselves, though not lacking in power.
are difficult to understand and use; the keyframe
controls, for example, look so tortuously complex
it's difficult to know where to begin.

On the positive side, you get an awful lot for
your money in an application that you won't outgrow
any time soon

Verdict

Pros Lots of effects; advanced

editing controls

Cons Cluttered, busy workspace; gels

complicated in places

Overall Lots of features, but the least

easy to use of all

Features ***

Ease of use * *

Value for money -kiririr

Overall

•••••

•' www.pcw.co.uk

GROUP TEST > VIDEO-EDITING SOFTWARE

Muvee Reveal

Price $79.95 (£53) Contact www.mjvee.com

!*L

ffi?

RECOMMENDED

Above: Muvee Reveal Is mostly automated,
with some customisation options

Left: Yoj can split clips and discard the
grotty bits

Most of the applications in this group test
have a feature that automatically produces
a finished movie from your clips and other
content, inserting transitions and effects, andaddinga
music backing track, all based on a themed template.
That's what Muvcc Reveal docs In fact, that's all it
does - but it does it fantastically well.

Muvcc Reveal is quite a mature application -
previously called Muvee Auto Producer - and its
maturity shows in the slick interface When you first
launch the program, big numbers guide you through
the stages. There are three of them; 1 add your photos
and video; 2 select a style; and 3 choose a music track
All that's left to do is press the Play button and preview
what has been created .

You're never satisfied with a first attempt, though,
and experimentation is possible in a number of ways.
You can choose a different style: there are 10 to
choose from, and you can customise them by clicking a
Style settings button which opens a panel containing
options for adjusting the pace, response to music,
transitions and effects Some of these are general and
some, like the page flip-style for the scrapbook, are
specific to individual style templates.

Changing the style itself is simply a matter of
selecting a new option from the list. The style
templates apply transitions and effects to the content
in the order in which it appears on the storyboard. The
templates are well designed and there's a good range -
from Ultra Plain and Classic Vanilla, which do little
more than edit the clips and photos together with
simple cuts, to more aggressive styles such as Cube
Twist, Pump it up and Hexplode. which adds 3D effects
and cuts to the beat of the music backing track.

To begin with we were a little concerned that.
beyond rearranging clips and photos, the scope for
manual editing was limited. Then we spotted little
arrows below the clip thumbnails, which expand a
context menu with an option to automatically split
long clips into shorter segments

This menu also includes Magic Moments, a clip
editor that is used to highlight the best bits of a clip
and discard the dross. This editing window also allows
you to preview and add captions to dips. The same
menu below photos provides tools for enhancing,
rotating, adding captions, editing the duration and
previewing motion effects. There's also a Magic Spot
feature that provides varying degrees of control over
pan and zoom motion effects.

Title and credit sequences are added to the
beginning and end of the movie, and these can be
personalised The Personalize panel includes other
options, such as adjusting the audio mix, including
style sound effects and recording a voiceover narration.

Muvee Reveal is quick, slick and seamless. Having
selected a new style, changed the style settings or
made some other alteration, pressing the Play button
results in a short delay while the content is shaped to
fit the new layout and the action begins.

When you're done, you can output your muvee
to Muvee's schwup.com sharing site, to DVD, for
handheld devices, including the iPod and PSP, or to
any of the other supported formats, including HD.

It's hard to find things not to like about Muvee
Reveal. It's quick, easy to use and produces great
results. It would be good if it included a Youtube
upload option. We were also a bit dismayed by the
lack of an undo when we accidentally deleted a clip.

Verdict

Pros Incredibly easy to use; quick

and stylish results

Cons No scope (or real' video

'.xliLing

Overall If you're more interested

in the results than the process, this

is for you

Features *#*

Ease of use -kiricirir

Value for money *■*■*

Overall

• •••

www.pcw.co.uk March 2C

video-edit^ GROUP TEST

Pinnacle Studio Plus 12

Price £69.99 Contact www.pinnaclcsys.com

Left: The Studio Plus Interface Is steadfastly
unfashionable, but extremely practical

Below: Montage themes provide animated sequences
into which you drop your clips

Pinnacle Studio comes in three versions: Standard,
Plus, and Ultimate. The Standard version doesn't
provide video overlays, so you can't do things
like picture-in-picture (PiP) effects. Studio Plus, the
version reviewed here, adds the video overlays,
chromakcying, some additional effects and better
DVD authoring, while Ultimate includes two
additional applications and a small green background
cloth for producing chromakey overlays. The price
difference between each version is £30 and even with
the Ultimate edition there are some effects you need
to pay extra for to unlock.

Studio is renowned for its ease of use. The interface
is split over three tabs: Capture, Edit, and Make Movie.
It's the middle One of these where most of the action
takes place and the screen is split into three areas: a
viewer; a storyboard/timdinc; and a tabbed album
area This last is used to organise your clips and add
titles, transitions, music and effects

Two buttons on the storyboard/timeline provide
further editing options for video and audio. The Video
Toolbox is used to trim clips, create titling, produce
Chromakey and PiP effects, and apply effect plug-ins.

The Video Toolbox will also scan your project to
automatically produce chapters and menus for a DVD
and, if you can't be doing with the fiddly business of
editing your own movie, will automatically produce it
for you. Unlike Premiere Elements, it doesn't provide a
wide range of themes, but minor variations on two
styles - music video and slideshow.

Studio has good audio-editing features. The Audio
Toolbox provides easy-to-use tools for adding voice-
over narration and music from CD or the Scorefitter
music library, and adding plug-in audio effects But the

highlight is the audio mixer. As well as a mixing desk
for balancing sound across the various audio tracks,
there's a visual mixer that you can use to position
individual channels in stereo and other multi-channel
audio tracks, including 5.1 surround sound Using this
feature, making an explosion travel from the front-
right to rear- 1 eft speaker is a simple matter of dragging
and dropping an icon.

The big new feature in Studio 12 is Montage
themes. These are themed clips that use graphical
elements in conjunction with layered clips to produce
multi-track animated sequences. The themes are split
into opening, segue and end segments, which you can
combine to produce a sequence of any length.
Montage themes arc easy to use - you simply drop
your clips onto drop zones to add them to an animated
sequence - and the results look good.

If Pinnacle can improve on the editing and
customisation potential, and find a way to extend
Montage Themes so they can be used in DVD menus
(the way they are in Apple's iDVD, where this idea
originated), they could be on to something.

There's little else new in this version that would
make it a compelling upgrade for existing Studio
users. Pinnacle says it has addressed stability issues
but, in our experience, Studio remains prone to
performance problems and, if the forums are anything
to go by, we're not alone.

Ease of use remains Studio's strongest selling point.
If Pinnacle would only listen to its existing users and
concentrate its efforts on addressing the performance
issues rather than trying to sell premium content from
the application menus, it would have an even better
product and many more satisfied users.

Verdict

Pros Easy to use; good range of
keyframeable effects; chromakeying
Cons Sluggish; prone lo glitches and
performance issues
Overall Excellent choice for those
starting out. but can be frustrating
Features -k-k-fc-k

Ease of use *#**

Value for money ■*■ * *

Overall

••••

•' www.pcw.co.uk

GROUP TEST > VIDEO-EDITING SOFTWARE

Video-editing software

MANUFACTURER

Product

Price inc Vat

Telephone

URL

CAPTURE, IMPORT AND EXPORT

DV capture (Firewire)

Analogue capture

Video import formats

Scene detection

ADOBE

Premiere Elements 7

£74.75

0800 028 0148

www.adobe.co.uk

•
•

ASF, AVI, AVCHD, SWF, DV, DVD, H.264,
HDV, Mod and Tod (JVC Everio, import

only), MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4,
Quicktime, Windows Media and 3GP

COREL

Videostudio Pro X2

£67

0800 376 9271

www.corel.co.uk

•
•

AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, HDV, AVCHD, M2T,

MPEG-4, H.264, Quicktime, Windows

Media Format, DVR-M5, Mod (JVC Mod

File Format), M2TS, Tod, BDMV, 3GP

and3GPP2

•

Video output formats

DVD/Blu-ray authoring and burning
Auto chapter markers

AVI, AVCHD, Blu-ray Disc DV, DVD, H.264,

HDV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4,

Quicktime, Windows Media and 3GP

•

AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, HDV, AVCHD,

Mpeg-4, H.264, Quicklime, Real Media,

Windows Media Format, BDMV, 3GPP,

3GPP2, FLV

•/•

VIDEO EDITING

Timeline mode/story board mode

•/•

Overlay/pi dure -in picture
Max video tracks

•

2 (plus two title tracks)

Max audio tracks

Colour adjustment/slow/fast motion
Auto- editing wizard/still image slideshows
Chroma key/effect plug-ins
Custom effects/transitions
Keyframes/customi sable workspace
TITLING 6 AUOIO
Titling editor
Text effects
Title animation
Audio mixing/effects
Timeline waveform display
Voice-over recording
5.1 mixing

•/•
•/•

•/•
•

•
•
•

•
•
x

•/•
•/•

•

•
•
•

Minimum system requirements

(Unless otherwise indicated, minimum system requirements

may be higher for HD editing)

1.8GHz processor with SSE2 support
{3GHz for HDV or Blu-ray, dual-core for
AVCHD, Windows XP SP2, Media Center,
or Vista, 512MB (with XP) or 1GB (with

vista) Ram 4.5GB available hard disk

space 1,024x768 16-bit DirectX 9 or 10

compatible display

Intel Pentium 4, AMD Athlon XP

(equivalent) or higher, Windows XP SP2

Home Edition/Professional/Media Center,

or Vista, 512MB Ram, 1GB available hard

disk space, Windows-compatible

soundcard, Windows-compatible

DVD-Rom for installation

SCORES
Features
Ease of use
Value for money
OVtRAll

*****

****
***•
*****

***
****
***
****

www.pcw.co.uk

video-edit^ GROUP TEST

^— ithm ( Vj* ._ ~. S 1

CYBERUNK
Power Director 7 Ultra

£58.49
N/A

www.tyberlink.cofn

•
•

DV-AVI, Windows-AVI, DAI, MPEG-1,

MPEG-2, DVR-MS, VOB, VRO, WMV, Mov,

Mod, Tod, MP4, MIS, M2IS, ]TS

MAG IX

MJVEE

PINNACLE

Movie Edit Pro 14 Plus

Reveal

Studio Plus 12

£59.99

S79.95 (£53)

£69.99

N/A

www.magix.corn

www.muvee.com

www.pinnaclesys.com

•
•

DV-AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Quicktime,

Magix Video (.mxv) WMV, VOB, AVCHD,

MPEG-4

•
•

WMV, Quicklime, MPEG-4, H.264, MPEG-2,

MPEG-1, DV-AVI, 3GPP DVD Camcorder

MPEG-2, AVCHD, HDV

•
•

AVCHD, DV, HDV, AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2,

DivX, MPEG-4, 3GP (MPEG-4), WMV,

Non- encrypted DVD titles

AVCHD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, DV AVI, OivX,

MPEG-4 AVC, Mpeg-4 SP, WMV, Real

Video, Mov

•/•
•

DV-AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Quicktime,

Magix Video (.mxv) WMV, VOB, MPEG-4,

Real Media

•/•

3 (recorded with video, voice-over,

music)

•/•

•/x

•

•/•

99 tracks in total

•/•

•

•/x

WMV, WMV-HD, Quicklime, MPEG-4,
H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, H.264, AVi

•/X
X

x/x
•/•

x/x

Video CD (VCD) or S-VCD, AVCHD, Blu-ray
BD, HD-DVD, DVD disc, Apple iPod and

Sony PSP compatible (MPEG-4) formats,
DV, HDV, AVI, DivX, Real Video 8, WMV,

MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPE6-4, Flash and 3GP

•/•

•/• •/•

X/X

•/•

• •

•

9 (video, effects, PiP and titles) 99 tracks in total

3 (video, overlay, titles)

4 (recorded with video, voice-over/sound
effects, music)

•/•
•/•

•/•

•/X

•

Pentium 4 2.2GHz or compatible,

Windows XP SP2, 1,024x768 16-bit

display, 256MB Ram SGB available hard

disk space

•

•
•

X (available with paid-for plug-in )

Pentium of Athlon 1.8GHz, Windows XP

SP2 or Vista, (Pentium HI or Athlon
2.4GHz or 1.6GHz dual-core required for
Vista), 1GB system memory, DirectX 9 or
10 compatible graphics card with 64MB
VRam (128MB for Vista), 2GB available
hard disk space, DVD-Rom drive

•
•
•

X
X

•

Intel Pentium 4 2GHz, 1GB Ram, video

drivers with Open GL 1.4 support,

Windows XP or Vista

•

Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon 1.4MHz or
higher, Windows XP 512MB Ram (1GB
required for HD), DirectX 9 or higher
compatible graphics card with 32MB

VRam (128MB required for 720p HD,
256MB required for 1080i HD), DirectX 9

or higher compatible soundcard, 1GB
available hard disk space, DVD-Rom drive

••*

••*•

•••

•••••

••*■•

••*■•
•••

•••

••**

•' www.pcw.co.uk

GROUP TEST > VIDEO-EDITING SOFTWARE

Advanced editing

If you've outgrown a consumer video-editing
application, or you're planning a professional
project, what are the advanced editing options
available to vol? What do they offer that you can't
get from the programs reviewed in this group test?
And what, if any, arc the drawbacks of using
professional video-editing software?

As you'd expect, professional editing software
supports professional video formats and media such
as DVCPRO, XOCAM and P2 cards, as well as
AVCHD and other tapeless formats. Likewise.
most export formats are supported, with
batch queuing so you can simultaneously
output a project for delivery across multiple platforms.

Pro editing tools arc more sophisticated, geared to getting the job
done more quickly, and they produce results far superior to those of
budget applications. Chromakcying, for example, will include tools
that enable you to pull a clean key with no light spill or fringing.
Compositing tools enabling multi-layering of video and graphical
elements are much more versatile, allowing for complex masking and
keyframed motion control effects. They also work with output from
specialised compositing applications such as Adobe After Effects.

Colour-correction controls and filters are geared to producing
broadcast standard output, so you'll find waveform monitor and
vectorscope instruments for assessing video luminance and
chrominance levels and maintaining them within acceptable limits
for broadcast. You'll also find tools for colour-matching footage
shot on different cameras.

Price Is the biggest
drawback to using
pro tools

A great deal of what
differentiates a pro from
a budget application is

productivity-related. Pro
applications make
routine tasks - three-
point- editing, trimming,
timeline -scrubbing - so
straightforward you
hardly have to think about them at all.

They also provide tools designed for organising the vast quantities of

footage generated by Professional projects.

The most obvious drawback to going pro is the price - 10 times or

more what you'd pay for a consumer video-editing application You

also need to put in the hours learning how the application works.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS4

www.adobe.tom; £688 .85 (£599 ex Vat)

Sony Vegas Pro 8

www.sonjcreatiuesoftware.com/vegaspra; £478 34 (£415 95 ex Vat)

Avid Media Composer

www.avid.co.uk; £1 .783 (£1 .550.43 ex Vat)

Final Cut Studio 2

www.apple.com/uk/finalcutitudio/finakutpro; £831 (£722.61 ex Vat)

Editor's Choice

Editor's Choice Adobe Premiere Elements 7
Recommended Muvee Reveal

Adobe Premiere Elements 7

Tie free market is alive and well in
the worid of video-editing software.
Competition is such that software
developers are quick to incorporate features
introduced by their rivals and adopt new
formats and technologies, such as AVCHD
and Blu-ray

So, if you take a look at the table of
features, you'll find that things such as
automatic scene detection, auto editing to a
style template, chromakey compositing, and
still image slide shows are offered by just
about everybody.

Muvee Reveal

Features are important, but when
everyone offers broadly the same thing, it's
how those features are implemented that
count. How easy is it to superimpose someone
on a different video backdrop, add a voice-
over track, or remove wind noise from audio
recorded with a built-in camcorder mic?
And when you've done it, how good are
the results?

The application that scores top in both those
categories - ease of use and quality of results -
and therefore wins our Editor's Choice award, is
Adobe Premiere Elements 7. Earlier versions of

Premiere Elements have come under fire for
lacking the accessibility for which the company is
well known, but this time Adobe has got the
balance between ease of use and advanced
editing features spot-on.

Two must- have features - chromakey and
auto editing - have been added in this version
and, though they've arrived late in the day,
outshine equivalent features in the other
applications reviewed here.

Not content to merely play catch -up, in
Smart Tagging, Adobe has introduced an
innovative new feature that will appeal to
beginners and more experienced editors alike.

Although it lacks nearly all the features
you would expect to find in a video -editing
application, Muvee Reveal gets a
Recommended award. Why? Mainly
because it's Just such a joy to use Reveal
has taken a single feature - automatic editing
to a style template - and created an entire
application based on it.

It's so simple anyone can produce great-
looking movies in just a few minutes. The only
sour note is the US dollar price which, due to
recent exchange rates, now looks a little steep
for a (very accomplished) one- trick pony P(W

www.pcw.co.uk

ww.microdirect.com

0161 248 4848

microdirect

BEAT THE

CREDIT

CRUNCH!

1 v/

HANTON 1 9"
WIDESCREEN H-341
WB LCD MONITOR

• Resolution : 1440 x 900 * Display
Color: 16.2M • Pixel Pitch : 0.285
x 0.285 mm

NOW IN
STOCK!

RANGE OF SAMSUNG

NC10NETBOOKS.

Available in blue, black
& white.

RANGE OF TOSHIBA
LAPTOPS. Stylish designs
at affordable prices.

CHERRY

EVOLUTION STINGRAY

WIRELESS DESKTOP

ACES

EJfeRj Microsoft

www.microdirect.com

Prices may change without notice E & OE

GROUP TEST

oLU"l\nI Ui\J V C j

GROUP TEST

103 Buffalo BR 815 FBS
Media Station
LG GCWH20L

103 Lite-On DH-4B1S

Sony NEC Optiarc BWU-300S

104 Tabic of features
107 Three top Blu-ray tips

Editor's Choice

Thanks to TDK for supplying the Blu-ray
media used in our testing

'If you're primarily interested
in backup and data storage,
then just about any up-to-
date PC will be able to work
well with a Blu-ray drive'

Blu revue

Paul Mo nekton puts some of the latest Blu-ray drives to the test

Blu-ray recordable drives, once out of the
reach of all but the richest early adopters,
are continuing to come down in price.
Although they'll need to come down further still
before they're as widely accepted as DVDs,
we're now seeing an increasing number of PCs
equipped with drives capable of reading the
high-capacity discs, and with Blu-ray writers
now available for well under £200, those of us
who wish to create and store HD content of our
own can now afford to do so.

Here we look at four Ski-ray writers, with
different prices and performance, to find out

which is the best type foi yon. All of them snip
with Cyberlink's BD Solution software, which
provides all you need to create, edit and play
back HD content - either on your PC or on a
standalone Blu-ray player Backup software is
also included in the package.

If you're primarily interested in backup and
data storage, then just about any up-to-date PC
will be able to work well with a Blu-ray drive.
However, if you want to be able to play back
commercial Blu-ray titles you'll need to make
sure all the relevant system components support
the HDCP content.

www.pcw.co.uk

101

GROUP TEST > BLU-RAY DRIVES

Buffalo BR-816 FBS Media Station

Price £229.99 Contact Buffalo www.buffalotech.com

One of the first vendors to offer eight-speed
Blu-ray writing, Buffalo has used a Panasonic
SW-5584 drive mechanism to create internal
and external versions of its latest high-speed drive.

Unlike Buffalo's previous six-speed Blu-ray writer,
the new model doesn't support playback from HD
DVD media. So if you have an archive of old discs or
movies, you'll need to hang or to your original drive if
you're considering an upgrade.

The drive mechanism used in the previous version
of the product is an LG CCW-H20N, which is an

identical drive to the unit LG has submitted for this
review, save for the lack of Lightscnbe technology.

Buffalo has therefore traded support for the
defunct HD DVD format for increased performance
on Blu-ray. When writing to compatible media, the
BR-816FBS is capable of burning a 25GB disc in about
17 minutes - a saving of around seven minutes per
disk over the four-speed drive from Lite-on.

It's debatable whether an eight-speed Blu-ray drive
is currently a good -value purchase. At the time
of writing, compatible Blu-ray discs were incredibly
scarce, so you're unlikely to take full advantage of the
drive for some time Furthermore, both eight-speed
drives from Buffalo and Optiarc cost considerably more
to buy than marginally slower six-speed drives.

If you simply must have the fastest possible speeds,
then this drive, along with the Optiarc product, won't
disappoint, whether you're creating Blu-ray discs,
burning standard DVDs or even CDs.

It's difficult to choose between the two eight-speed
drives available here: with pretty much identical
performance, compatibility and warranty terms it's
going to come down to price - and at the moment the
Buffalo drive can be bought for less. Buffalo's drive is
also available in an external USB2 version, which is
great for backing up multiple PCs.

tiL.

V/, World *J

Verdict

Pros Eight-speed lop writing speed
on Blu-ray; excellenl performance on
all media

Cons Price; no HD DVD playback
Overall This is a top performer,
although it needs the very latest
media to achieve Ihese speeds on
Blu-ray. HD DVD support, available in
the previous model, has now been
removed Kather pricey
Features kkrifkk

Performance ****

Value for money k+k

Overall

••••

LG GGW-H20L

Price £141.90 Contact LC h tip ://uk. ige.com

The GGW-H20L is unique in this group test in
that it supports playback of HD DVD media,
and anyone with an existing library of discs will
find the feature invaluable. With its maximum Blu-ray
writing speed of six-speed, this isn't the fastest drive you
can buy, and six-speed discs are hard to obtain.
However, the GGW-H20L drive can burn some four-
speed media at the full six-speed, resulting in minimum
bum times of 22 minutes for a 25GB disc. For 50GB
discs, the maximum four-speed will see your dual -layer
disc complete in 45 minutes.

You may have noticed that 50GB in 45 minutes is
pretty much the same overall speed as 25GB in 22
minutes. The reason for this is that the CAV (Constant
Angular Velocity) write strategy used to burn single-layer
discs starts writing at around 2. 5 -speed, only reaching
the full six-speed towards the end of the burn. By
contrast, the CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) mode keeps
the burn rate at a constant four-speed throughout

When it comes to DVD performance, the
GGW-H20L can burn single -layer media at a respectable
16-spccd. However, it's limited to only four-speed when
using dual-layer discs. This means it's only half the speed
of the competition when burning 8.5GB DVD media.

With support for less popular media such as
DVD-Ram and even the rarely used HD-Burn format,
the GGW-H20L is compatible with more discs than any
other model in this group test. It's also the only model
to support Lightscribc disc-labelling.

To get you started, LG has included a 25GB
rcwritcablc Blu-ray disc, along with a set of serial ATA
power and data cables. The drive's attractive front bezel
is finished in black and silver, with subtle design touches
that give it a much classier look than a run-of-the-mill
optical drive. With street prices currently under £150.
this drive offers exceptional value for money and is only
a little slower than the latest eight-speed models.

: &

LUI

ll '"^-' •'

Verdict

Pros Good Blu-ray performance;
HD DVD playback; excellent media
compatibility, amazing value lor
money: Lightscribe support;
attractive design

Cons Poor dual/double-layer DVD
performance; slower than an
eight- speed drive

Overall Able to burn just about any
disc, read HD DVD and Lightscribe
enabled, the GGW-H20L is a good
performer and an excellent purchase
considering its low price
Features kirkk

Performance +■*•■*■**

Value for money k * kk k

Overall

• ••••

102

www.pcw.co.uk

Lite-On DH-4B1S

Price £166.37 Contact Lite-On www.Jitconil.cy

BLU-RAY DRIVES < GROUP TEST

Litc-On's DH-4B1S is a much better buy than it
might seem at first glance: unfortunately for
Lite-On, the most obvious stand-out feature
of the DH-41BS is the fact that it's rated at four-speed
when burning Blu-ray discs - not an impressive
specification when placed next to drives offering
six-speed and even eight- speed performance.

However, these speed ratings aren't as simplistic as
they might seem An eight- speed drive is not necessarily
twice as fast as a four-speed unit - a point Lite-On has
been battling to make clear in its promotional material.

The reason for this is that where some drives start
off slowly, only building up to their maximum speeds
towards the end of the bum, the 4B1S maintains its
full four-speed performance across nearly all the disc
surface. This means the Lite-On drive can complete a
full single-layer disc in 24 minutes, only around three
minutes longer than the six-speed GGW-H20L

Of course, this still can't touch the top performance
of the eight-speed drives from Buffalo or Sony in full
flight, but to get the most out of these drives you'll
need to find BD-R media rated at six-speed at least,
and those are still relatively difficult to obtain. When it
comes to burning standard single-layer DVDs, the
DH-4B1S is a little slower than the competition,
running at 12-speed rather than the more usual
16-Specd, but when it comes to 8.5GB DVDs, its
eight-speed is double that attained by the LG.

Like all the Blu-ray drives here, the Lite-On drive is
shipped with a copy of Cyberlink's BD Solution suite of
multimedia software. Also in the box is a blank 25GB
rewriteable BD-RE Blu-ray disc.

Available for less than 1170 online, the DH-4B1S is
good value for money and performs much better than
its spec might suggest. However, LG's ultra- compatible
GGW-H20L can be found for even less, is faster overall
and can read HD DVD discs.

Verdict

Pros Faster than you might think;
low price

Cons Slower than the competition;
also slower at DVD burning
Overall Although rated at four-
speed, the DH-4B1S still turns in
respectable performance on all easily
available Blu-ray discs. It's also
available at a very bw price - though
not quite as low as the faster LG
GGW-H20L

Features **+

Performance +++

Value for money ** * *

Overall

• ••

Sony NEC Optiarc BWU-300S

Price £254 Contact Sony www.sony-optiare.eu

The Optiarc BWU-300S, along with Buffalo's
BR-816FBS, offers what is currently the fastest
Blu-ray burning solution available. With
support for burn speeds at up to eight-speed you'll be
writing, gigabyte for gigabyte, at around the same
speed as a fast DVD burner and completing a 25G8
BD-Rom in around 17 minutes.

Burning BD-Roms at eight- speed brings one major
problem: Blu-ray discs rated at eight-speed don't yet
exist. However, six -speed discs almost do - and if you
can find one, the 8WU-300S will push it up to eight-

speed in much the same way LG's GGW-H20L is able to
get six-speed performance out of four-speed media.

The BWU-300S makes speedy work of all forms of
supported media: single-layer DVDs burn at 16-speed,
while dual-layer DVDs can be written at eight-speed.
Even a CD can be completed at a class-leading 48 -speed.

The rather sleekly styled bezel of the BWU-300S,
with its big blue Blu-ray icon, lends it a rather more
expensive appearance than the competition - an
appropriate look, because it does indeed cost
considerably more. However, its look won't be suited
to certain system cases or drive enclosures, so an
interchangeable cheap-looking tray cover has also been
provided for just such uses.

Also supplied is a full set of cables and screws, so
you won't need to go searching for that spare serial
ATA cable that came with your motherboard when you
come to install your new drive Unfortunately, it
doesn't ship with a blank disc, so you'll have to add
the cost of one of those to the already rather high
price of this drive.

The BWU-300S is an excellent drive delivering
superb performance, but we'll have to wait for prices
to come down a little before we can recommend it
over less expensive options, even if they don't support
the eight-speed burning of the Optiarc unit.

Verdict

Pros Top-notch performance across

the board; supplied with all required
cabling and screws
Cons Price; no HD DVD support
Overall Currently priced too high to
compete, this super-fast drive will
become a true contender once prices
arc discounted and higher speed
Blu-ray media are available
Features -kiririfk

Performance *+**

Value for money * * *

Overall

••••

•' www.pcw.co.uk

103

GROUP TEST > BLU-RAY DRIVES

cam»-

&L,

Blu-ray drives

LG '

MANUFACTURER

BUFFALO

LITE-ON

SONY NEC

Product

BR-816FBS Media Station

GGW-H20L

0H-4B15
£166.37 (Amazon)

Optiarc BWU-300S

Price

£229.99

£141.90 (Ebuyer)

£254

Warranty

Two years

One year

Two years

Drive model

Matshila BD-MLT SW-5584

HL-OT-ST BD-RE GGW-H20L

Atapi BD B DK4B1S

Sony BDRW BWD-300S

Type

Blu-ray Rewriter Dl

HD DVD-Rom

Blu-ray Rewriter DL
Sata

Blu-ray Rewriter DL

Interface

Sata

Tested firmware version

1 YL03

7P5A
2MB

1.0a

Buffer size

8MB

4MB

8MB

Read CD-R

48x

40x

40X
40x

48X

Read CD-RW

32x

16x/12x

40X

•

Read DVD-Rom {SL/DL)

16X/8X

12x/8x

16X/12X

Read DVD -Ram

Read DVD-R

16x

12X

16x

Read DVD-RW

10x

12k

Read DVD-R DL

Read DVD+R

16x

12x

12X

16X

Read DVD+RW

lOx

12x

Read DVD+R DL

4x
2X/2X
2x/2x

Read BD-Rom

6X/4.8X

Read BD-R

8x/8x

6X/4.8X

8x/8x

Read BD-RE

2x/2x

Read HD DVO-Rom (SL/DL)

3x CAV/3X CAV

Read HD-Burn

•

Read Digital Audio

•

Read CD+G

•
•

Read Video CD

•

Write CD-R

48x I-CLV

40x PCAV

40xCAV

48x Z-CLV

Write CD-RW

24x 2-CLV

24x Z-CLV

Write DVD-R

16XCAV
6XCLV

16X PCAV

12X P-CAV

16x ZCLV

Write DVD-RW

6x CLV

6XCLV

Write DVD-R DL

8x ZCLV

4xCLV

8x Z-CLV
12X P-CAV

8XCLV

Write DVD+R

16x CAV

16X PCAV

16X Z-CLV

Write DVD+RW

8x ZCLV

8x Z-CLV

4x Z-CLV/2X CLV

2x CLV/2X CLV

•

Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, Raw SAO,

Raw DAO, Raw SAO 16, Raw SAO

96, Raw DAO 16, Raw DAO 96

SX Z-CLV

Write DVD+R DL

8x Z-CLV

4xClV

SxCLV

Write DVD- Ram

•

Write BD-R (SL/DL)
Write BD-RE (SL/DL)

8x P-CAV/8X P-CAV

2x CLV/2X CLV

6x CAV/4X CLV
2x CLV/2x CLV

8x P-CAV/8x P-CAV
2x CLV/2X CLV

Buffer Dnderrun Protection
Lightscribe

Supported write modes

•
X

Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, Raw SAO

•

Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, Raw SAO,

Raw DAO, Raw SAO 16, Raw SAO

96, Raw DAO 16, Raw DAO 96

Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, Raw

Supplied software

Accessories

Dimensions (wxdxh)

SCORES

Performance

Features

Value for money

OVERAll

Drive Navigator, Cyberlink
Software Suite (Cyberlink Power

Director 6, Cyberlink Power

Producer 4, Cyberlink Power DVD

7 BD edition, Cyberlink Power 2

Go 5, Cyberlink Power Backup 2,

Cyberlink Instant Burn 5,

Cyberlink Mediashow 3)

None

146x1 90x42 mm

Cyberlink Power Producer BD,

Cyberlink Power Director,

Cyberlink Power 2 Go, Cyberlink

Instant Burn, Cyberlink Power

Backup, Cyberlink Power DVD

BD-RE 25GB disc

146x185x42mm

*■••••

• •••

• •+

•••••
***•*
•••••

Cyberlink Power Producer BD,

Cyberlink Power Director,

Cyberlink Power 2 Go, Cyberlink

Instant Burn, Cyberlink Power

Backup, Cyberlink Power DVD

BD-RE 25GB disc
146x1 78x4 2 mm

•**
•••
••*•

***

Cyberlink Power Producer BD,

Cyberlink Power Director,

Cyberlink Power 2 Go, Cyberlink

Instant Burn, Cyberlink Power

Backup, Cyberlink Power DVD

Screws, Manual, quick Start

guide, Sata cable, Sata power

adapter, alternative bezel

146x178x42mm

•••••

+•••

+••

104

www.pcw.co.uk

WAREHOUSE SURPLUS OUTLET

MAIL ORDER SALES LINE

0870 120 4940

www.morgancompiiters.co.uk

Stores in London, West Midlands and Manchester.
See below for store locations/opening hours.

NIKON COOLPIX S200 SLIMLINE 28 PPM DUPLEX LASER NAVMAN ICN550 EURO GPS

Stunning aluminium bodied 7.1 megapixel camera - only 1fi.5mrn thin
- with image stabiliser, faoe priority AF and in camera red-eye removal.

* Quality Nikfcor 3k optical zoom lens

* Large bright antl-rellective 2,5 " display

* Multiple shooting, modes plus movie clips

* Rechargeable baltery. SQ card storage

Stock status: Factory rework stock
Warranty: 6 month warranty

«)

Samsung ML-2B5QD - small footprint, fast 2B page minute
laser with Duplex double sided printing.

* 1200 1 1200 dpi print resolution

* HP PCL6 and PostScript modes

* Booklet, poster & N- Jp priming

* All-in-one print cartridge
Stock Hiatus: Brand new slock

W._ E 64 s

inc VAT

Warranty: 1 year on-site warranty

Nikon 59 exUAT 68 incVAT

d£&*P^

Easy Lo use Sat Nav with 3.5" LCD .
display and lull European maps.

• Maps stored on 4GB hard disk

■ One touch Fuel & Park buttons

■ "Back-on-Track" & "Home" mode

• loc car kiL. remote control & case
Stock status: Brand new stock
Warranty: i year warranty

eiVAr

: G8

inc VAT

ECS LAPTOP ■ NOW £199 INC VAT menicH dual action gamepap

IK price low - enlry level Celeron notebook with 14
TFT display and Windows XP sub E2D0 inc VAT.

• Intel Celeron M processor, 256MB RAM

• 4CGB hard disk and CD-RW/DVD RDM

• USB, parallel, serial and PS/2 ports

• MS Windows XP Home and Works

Stock status: Brand new stock
Warranty: 1 year warranty

£ 173 9 ° £ 199 9i !

inc VAT

* Versatile gamepad with a r genomic grip

* Precise flexible controls, pluu'n'play setup

* 1? programmable Pultons, B way D-Pad ■ ^
Stand new stock, 2 year warranty
CQ39 fill 43

LOGITECH ATTACK 3 JOYSTICK

* Luxury Joystick wllh 11 programmable buttons

* Precise throttle conirol and rapid lire trigger

* Compact design with stable weighted base
Brand new stock. 2 year warranty
E799 e:qi3

* eiYAI *• me MAI

TOSHIBA SATELLITE U400-108

Compact Core 2 Duo notebook weighing i.SKg
with webcam, wireless netv/Drkingj & Bluetooth,

• lolel Core 2 Duo T55SD, 3GB DDH2 RAM

• 250GB drive and multiformat DVD writer
■ 13.3' wide aspect TruBrite screen
- MS Windows Vista Business
Stuck status: Factory rework Stock
Warranty: t year warranty

391* s 449

inc VAT

HP PAVILION A6021 DUAL CORE HP L1955 19" TFT DISPLAY "xmabk MULTiFuuaiow Inkjet

AMD Athlon 64 X2 40aOt Dual Care processor
willi 1GB RAM and large 250GB hard disk.

■ Double layer 16x LigMScribo DVD writer

■ ATI Radeon HD 2350 graphics with VGA & DVI

• Hi-def sound, flash card reader and in ion LAN

• MS Windows Vista Home Premium & Worts

Stock status: factory mwork stock
Warranty: S month warrant 1 /

169 extfftT 195 imm m

NAVMAN N60I GPS INC NAVPIX

Widescreen Sat Hav with integral digital
camera and NavPix photo navigation.

• Widfl aspect 4.3 hl touchscreen

• Euro maps. UK postcode search

• Pre-instatled speett camera Into
- USB. SO ski and long life battery

Stock status: Brand new stock
Warranty: 1 year 'warranty

£ 86

=99

ex VAT inc VAT Q NAVMAN

TOSHIBA SATELLITE L300-I3R

Penlium Dual Core notebook with TruBrile display,
integral webcam and wireless networking.

* Intel Penlium T2390. 2GB RAM
- 250GB hard disk and DVD writer

* iii.-v widescreen TruBNte display

* Microsoft Windows Vista and Works
Stock status: Factory rework stock
Warranty: 1 year warranty

C9QC64 COOQ99

C3 ° ex MAT <**•» incWA

High performance 19 ,: TFT display with
pivot and LUl leature, DVI & VGA inputs.

• 1230 K1Q24 pixel. 1000:1 contrast ralio

* 10ms response time, wide viewing angle

* Ultra thin bezel far 'tiling" displays

• Integral 4 port USB hub, VESA wall mount
Stock status: Warranty exchange stock
Warranty. 1 year warranty

CO 099 £11499

* ,i ' ex VAT ■ "incVAT
CASIO EXILIM EX-I105O 10.1 MEGAPIXEL

* Slimline design wllh 3x optical zoom

* Wide aspect 2.6" colour LCD display

* Anll-stiake mode tor sharpar plclures

Factory rework stock t year warranty — ^

E B9 M d 80"

EiVHT IiieVM — ^g

PURE MGITAL OHE - WHITE

* Portable dab radio wiiii fm mode

* Tune by Elation name, scrolling display pj^

* Cluck, alarm & kitchen/sleep timers
Factory rework stock. 5 month warranty

'Z4".» c 28",, m
FELLOWES SHREPMATE

Compact desktop shredder - ideal lor shredding confidential
financial information, receipts and junk mail.

* Shreds up lo 4 A4 sheels at a time

• High security cross cut shredding

• Safety cut off upon head removal

* Also shreds staples and credit cards
Slock status: Brand new slock
Warranty: J year warranty

■ -

■ Fast 1 7 page/mln, 4800 dpi colour printing

• HMialbed colour scanner ana copier

• Integral Hash card reader and PI clB ridge

Factory rework stock, 6 month warranty

E0173 COylSS

LI my*! CHr ,rr. mi

PURE SIESTA. DAB & FM CLOCK RADIO

* Choice or three independent alarms

* Auto d I m m I ng d isp lay with inte llitext

* Superb digital qua I Ity & more stations

Factory rework stock. 6 month warranty

C9«|99 C4A74

££| btVIiT £o hi 7*1

LOGITECH WEBCAM SPECIAL

Gutckcam CDfnnuniicate Deluxe webcam -
hail price special - limilerJ supply.

• 1280 x 1024 res webcam with glass lens
- 3 megapixel image capture (enhanced]

• RlghtLlght 2 for Improved Image quality

• Intelligent face tracking technology

Slock status: Brand new stock
Warranty: 2 year warranty

£1499 £1724

am at WAT I *

ex VAT

nine

ling

val ^ _

I card;

Inc UAT

£1999 £1494

It -, WIT

ex VAT "^ inc VAT

TOMTOM OHE XL GPS

" Sat Navwith fun UK postcode search

• Wide aspect 4.3 "touchscreen LCD

• 2D/3D map vlewsyVa Ice commands
Factory rework stock, 6 month warranty

7K™ E 9P,„

DON! MISS OUT
-GET THE MORGAN

FLYER EVERY MONTH;
CALL 0870 120 4940

CENTRAL LONDON WEST LONDON

64-72 Now Oxford Street (J nil 25 Oortjy Road

London WC 1 A 1 AX Metropolitan Ctr UK

id 020 7255 2115 Tel 020 657

Fax 020 7436 62B5 Fan 020 857

WEST LONDON WEST MIDLANDS MANCHESTER Monday-Friday 9 00am -5 30pm

(Jnil 25 Oortjy Road Unit 1! Enterprise Trad Est Unit 1 1-12 Station Approach Nev ' 0riD " i st 10:00am - 6:30pm

Metropo litan Ctr JB6 8J J Hurst Lane, Brierley Hill. Manchester M12GH Saturday a . 00am -5.00pm

Tel 020 6575 0055 West Midlands DV5 1TX Tel 01612371111 NewOxfordSt 10:00am - 6:00pm

Fax 020 8575 7985 Tb i 81384 472816 Fax 0181237 3146 Sunday 10.00am- 4.00pm

Closed weekends Fax 01384 472011 New Oxford St 11.00pm- 5:00pm

(EI'UBE)
I v.U I ( J

11.00pm • 5:00pm stock * prices suojecllo change, ESOE

Subscribe to Personal Computer World
this New year and get 3 issues for £1!

Your subscription benefits

• Pay only £3.16 an issue instead of £4.99 in stores

• Free Personal Computer World back issue CD-Rom 8
- all the editorial content from 12 issues

• Free 8GB DVD with every issue which gives you
10 times more content than the CD version!

• Free delivery direct to your door

• Get your copy before the issue hits the shops

SAVE 36%
on every

— Personal.

Computer
World

COMPLI

Money-Back Guarantee
- Your Risk-FREE Subscription

Subscribing to Personal Computer World is completely

risk-free. If you are not totally satisfied you can write to cancel

your subscription before you receive the third issue and pay

no more than the money already debited. The free gift is yours

to keep whatever you decide.

PLUS FREE

Personal Computer

World back issue

CD-Rom 8

_ worth £14.67 _

>■

3 Simple ways to order

— --. For a quick and easy way to subscribe go online:

lwww.subscription.co.uk/pcwdvd/v282

, .. Call our hotline on:

\J IO JU HOO O / \J (please quote code v282) f^

j-' k PLEASE RETURN YOUR COMPLETED FORM TO THE FOLLOWING FREEP0S1 ADDRESS: Ij.P yjgri .

\#J Personal Computer World Subscriptions, FREEPOST LON 14776, Market Harborough, Leicestershire LE87 4NZ ! Computer

\-**^ (No Stamp reauired) IHtlO |

\&\ Yes! I would like to receive 3 issues of Personal Computer
World DVD edition for £1 plus CD-Rom 8 FREE.
I understand I will then pay a quarterly Direct Debit of
£9.50, that's just £3.1 6 an issue instead of £4.99 in
the shops.

Your Address Details

Tillc Initials Surname

■\

Address

Postcode

Telephone

Instruction to your Bank or Building Society to pay by Direct Debit
To the Manager of (Bank/Building Society name)

Branch Address

#B ^DIRECT

Oig«UwMdefllfadi«i wtii

HEEBlTH

iMUTKttofl bayour Bukw

Namefs} of account holder(s) ,

Branch Sort Code

Account Number

'■' •"■" fleasep^VNU&jafleiPuhfciilmns.

Lid Giiid L>bdn [mm lh* jgCQurt
dcilfed en ftc. HBlrjdKin sitjpd 10
1te safeguards asa/ed by iht Breci
PQSlCQde DabilGoaranlea I understand Lhal this

nsfUuf.lHn ma, rernifi wlh VNU
BuSifiou ftibbcalcrri lid u)d, ito.

■ "• ■ ddlk*riltepai^d^ren*-jlyta

mf Sinker BtiUng 5c»ly. Ejnte «

„..,.,. &i^SscJ«Bamjyriijl«Eept

D«c| Dfltm rsimdiva tn "ma

Signatured ..

Personal CompuJcf Wald is pufoisk-d bf YNU Hmrttss PurblitaliofiS ifrhkU is owied by Irriwvc Media Grsujj, Vifc wt use aw <n rcfc of the various taifacl lirtiul;; WJftfed 10 c&rtacl you aixiul Pe'sonal C-HTipiJer Vfor'd needing your abscrp'-iiili and reader research

Ptosc ndicato bctow yew pfn-ocy wishes tor othw swact trwn Incsrvc Madia tuw 3rd partf <wg*vsal>ona; Q tick bo* to focave TtfeiTadrsa nbo Jt otha product! or somccs tnjT; tho Iraarw Media groLp ol ccTfsjry&s by omail □ Tick tew to rueww jitor iratiott aboul products a BCfvcoa Irom

selected Mirpwips b« emaJ. | 1 1 ek. boi lo rsceiv* hrcrmaligr shoot pdhef pipdiBtfl »d shwcbs torn far Eocene Media group or campanes lay SMS- Q Hd frca lo rpjewe irarmalan ataul products aid senses Fipni seeded compane* by SMS

[ |ThibQKh'|WJdoNOTwaillorac:av5ntom^joriabrA'c^«p((3dtj:lsard sances fan :fra x= s w y«: a gvi-jp cl ■:■: mpa i ■:■; r-, poSV telephone. ] 'Tkk bOifljuudo \'J1 warrl lo r erawa rTfonra.1; on abort pred^S&ard ssivirjas trcm selected cotrpatt&atiy post/Telapliana.

Gflei aralaolc in trio UK aril,', (* ihttsess &fc&fipli«!5 cat +44 10)1 B53 43S370 OH&f finds 30lh Apl I 2003. SaUfift vi3?

BLU-RAY DRIVES < GROUP TEST

Three top Blu-ray tips

Make sure your system can play back Blu-ray discs

If you want to rent or buy Blu-ray movies on your new drive, you'll
need to make sure the rest of your PC is up to the job. Unlike DVDs,
Blu-ray movies require that any part of your PC that processes them
complies with the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP)
system This includes not only your Blu-ray drive, but also any
playback software, your graphics card drivers and your monitor.
Suitable playback software is usually provided, but make sure you
have the latest graphics drivers installed and that your monitor
supports HDCP.

For an automated system checkup, you can download Cyberlink's
BD Advisor utility from www.cybeilink.com.

Buy the correct type of disc

You don't need HDCP support if you just want to use your drive to
create your own content or back up your own data, but to get the
most from your hardware you'll need to buy the right kind of disc.

Write once, BD-R, and rcwritcablc r BD-RE, discs arc currently
available in both 25G8 and 50G8 versions All the drives tested here
support both versions in both capacities, although write-once media is
considerably faster than rewriteables.

The speed rating is also important. Two-speed media are
prevalent and four-speed discs are relatively easy to find online.
However six-speed discs are new and currently difficult to get hold
of. Luckily for owners of six- speed drives such as LG's GGW-H20L,
you'll be able to write at six-speed on most four-speed discs.
However, if you plump for an eight-speed model you'll have to
seek out those elusive six -speed discs to achieve top performance.

Don't bother looking for any eight-speed discs yet - you won't
find any.

Upgrade Vista to Service Pack 2

Although still in Beta at the time of writing, the latest service pack
update to Vista comes with built-in support for writing Blu-ray data
discs, so you can abandon your burning software altogether.

Download Cyberlink's BD Advisor utility for automated checkups

Editor's Choice

Editor's Choice lg GGW-H20L

Recommended Buffalo BR-816 FBS Media Station

C» te r

. World

LG GGW-H20L

Take a little care when choosing your
Blu-ray writer; going straight for the
package displaying the biggest numbers
won't necessarily get you the best deal The
difference between four-speed, six-speed and
eight-speed is more than simple arithmetic.

Even the slowest performer overall, Lite-On's
DH-41 BS, is capable of delivering speedy results
with its four- speed CLV writing strategy. It can
even outperform a six-speed dnve under certain

Buffalo BR-816 FBS Media Station

circumstances. Four-speed Blu-ray media is widely
available and the drive is available at a temptingly
low price Unfortunately, for Lite-On you can get
hold of a faster drive for even less.

Those of us who demand the fastest speed will
be willing to spend a little extra to get it. Both the
eight-speed drives tested here - the Buffalo BR-
816FBS and Sony NEC Optiarc BWU-300S - use
the latest and greatest technology to tempt you
with the possibility of impressively fast burn times.

However, to take advantage of this performance
you'll need to use Blu-ray discs certified for at least
six-speed Although these arc now available to
buy, they're very scarce, so you're unlikely to be
making use of that extra speed for some time to
come. You'll also have to pay a considerable
premium to buy yourself this future potential. Both
these drives also offer superior performance on
DVD and CD media

Prices of the Buffalo drive arc starting to
come down, so for those of you eager to get
your hands on the fastest possible speeds, the
BR-S16FBS wins our Recommended award.

Currently the best balance of price,
performance and features is offered by our
Editor's Choice, the LG GGW-H20L. This drive
can use widely available four-speed Blu-ray discs
to write at up to six-speed, achieving a level of
performance that's not far off the eight-speed
drives It's also capable of playing back your old
HD DVD discs.

Performance is a little slow on some disc
types, such as 8.5GB DVD media, but even so
the GGW-H20L is currently a winner on overall
flexibility and performance, especially when you
take into account that this drive comes at the
lowest-price of the whole group P£W

•' www.pcw.co.uk

107

Paragon Software Group is a leading technology solutions provider to
consumers, businesses and institutions worldwide. Known internationally
for its innovative software, the company provides proven, full featured
solutions for storage lifecycle management.

www.paragon-software. com/uk

Drive Backup 9-0 Professional

Protect your hardware, undo software
malfunctions or crashes, and safeguard
your data with Paragon Drive Backup 9,0
Professional Edition!

This powerful application provides you
with a new approach to file backup and
enhanced recovery tools. It allows you to
create an image of your entire hard disk or
individual partitions. You can now recover/
restore your PC or laptop with our handy
bootable, portable rescue USB flash drive.
In addition, this version comes with a re-
liable Windows® PE Recovery CD. It pro-
vides a wide range of hardware support
and an easy to use interface.

Paragon Christmas Special Offer

To get 40% off the download version please visit www.paragon-software.com/uk, select the
product "Drive Backup 9-0 Professional Edition", add it to your shopping cart and enter the
promotional coupon "XMAS-DB9PR40".

*• t?

Paragon Software Group
wishes you a Merry Christmas!

paraGon

SOFTWARE GROUP

leading Storage Management Experts

*"•

Reviews and insight for professionals

COMPILED BY ALAN STEVENS

THERE'S LIFE AFTER WINDOWS

With Windows pre-installed onto every PC and server you buy, it's
Jk easy to think there are no real alternatives; however, that's not the

case. In this month's Business Section we look at how you can
save money and get other benefits by switching to Linux, and
offer tips on how to go about evaluating and deploying the open-source platform.

Coincidentally, we've also got a review of the latest mail server from Kerio,
which is available for Linux as well as Windows Plus, we take a look at a new,
more affordable, version of Double-Take's popular server mirroring and failover
solution - Livewire. We have hardware, too, and look at a wireless all-in-one inkjet
from Lexmark, a big network storage appliance with flexible Raid protection from
Lacie and a big projector from Infocus designed to light up large venues.

CONTENTS

FEATURE

110 Linux, ready for business

REVIEWS

1 1 2 Lexmark X7675

113 Lacie 5big Network

114 Kerio Mail Server 6.6

115 Infocus IN5102

116 Double-Take Livewire

OUR SCORING

Excellent ***** Very good **** Good

OUR AWARDS

Editor's Choice: The best product in a comparative

group test. Anything that wins this award is of better

quality than its competitors.

Recommended: A product that combines great

features, usability and value for money.

Great Value: Not the best in class, but a product that

has superior features and performance for the price.

Editor's Choice Recommended

Business Business

The business awards are used for products that are
more suited to home offices or small businesses.

www.pcw.co.uk 109

BUSINESS

Linux, ready
for business

Alan Stevens explores the best way to move your
business to the open-source operating system

Let's face it, if you're a small
business, ihe chances are you're
running Windows on all your
desktop and notebook PCs, not to
mention any servers you might
have. Although you've seen and read about
alternatives such as Linux, you're unlikely Co
have had time to research the Subject in any
depth, or understand what's really involved.
So, the idea behind this month's business
(cam re is to give you an overview of the
benefits of switching to an open-source
platlorm, plus a few tips on la king advantage
of what Linux has to offer.

Linux pros and cons

Cost reduction is the biggest benefit of
switching in Linux, although it may not be

immediately obvious, partly because
Windows tends to come ore-installed on all
new PCs, making it easy to miss the fact that

Virtual isation makes it easy to evaluate Linux
without having to Invest in new hardware

The Ubuntu experience

For small businesses trying Linux for the first
time, Ubuntu is a good choice. It's free to
download for both server and desktop use,

you have to pay for each copy -and it's not
cheap. Added to which, if you want lo run a
Windows server you not ojily have to buy a
licence for the server software but for every
PC or user you want to connect

Licences are also required to use Linux,
however, will] must implementations
(commonly referred tcj as distrosf they don't

and a Live CD implementation of the
desktop version makes it easy to evaluate
The latest desktop distro can even be

loaded onto a USB key and booted
from that, if required.

Integration and compatibility with
Windows networking come as
standard with Ubuntu. Fire up the
desktop distro, for example, and you
can join an Active Directory domain
and access file shares straight away.
You can even open and work on
Microsoft Office documents using the

Ubuntu Is one of the most popular
Linux distros around and a good
choice for the small business Just
starting out down the Linux route

cost anything. This means you can take one
copy of the software and install il on as many
PCs or servers as you want, while servers can
be configured for multiple users.

You may have lo part with some money
for this privilege, A couple ot the big- name
vendors - for example Red Hat and Novell -
charge to provide support and software

updates, but even then it's not a
huge amount and, for the most
pan, ihe software iisell doesn'i
cost anything.

Another advantage is the
bundling ol extra application
soltware with most of the distros.
Things such as web, email and
database servers, for example,
will be included as standard,
along with a variety of desktop
applications such as the Open
Office suite. Most of these are free
lo license and use, again leading to
big savings compared with
Sticking with Windows where

latest version of the Open Office productivity
suite, also included in the default install.

As far as the desktop interface is
concerned, there's a choice of cither Gnome
or KDE software, with 3D effects just like on
Vista, Firefox is the default browser, with
Evolution for email and calendaring installed
and ready to run from the off.

On the server front, Samba 3.0 is
provided to support file and print sharing,
along with an Apache HTTP server that can
be configured to host a wide range of web
applications using PHP, Perl, Java and a
variety of other languages. A number of
backend databases can also be hosted by
Ubuntu, including MySQL, DB2 and Oracle
Database Express, with software to run your
own email server also bundled into the distro.

110

www.pcw.co.uk

BUSINESS

— i

most applications cost extra.

Security is another area
where benefits can be yarned,
with far fewer Linux viruses
for example, compared with
Windows. Indeed, open-
source software as a whole is
seen as far less susceptible to
threats, and accepted wisdom
would have us believe that
the platform is far more
stable.

There are drawbacks, of
course. Different skills, for
example, are required to
install, use and maintain a Linux system
compared with Windows. The graphical
interlaces aren't that dissimilar, but
underneath Linux is a very different beast,
especially when it comes to configuration,
maintenance and support. And of course,
applications written for Windows aren't
always available lor the Linux platform, A tot
of developers now otter Linux support, and
where they don't you can usually lind
something similar available, but not always
witli the functionality required to run on
every version of Linux.

Getting started

You can read as much as you like, but the
only way to find out what Linux is all aboul
is to try it for yoursell. It's not dillicult and
the only significant investment will be time.

There are several implementations to
choose from, most of which can be
downloaded and used for little or no cost
(see box - Choose your distro). Many
are also available as so-called Live CD
implementations, enabling you to run Linux
from a bootable CD rather than having to
install to hard disk. Indeed, the software on
the PC is Ich entirely untouched, making a
Live CD a risk-free way of sampling Linux.

Unfortunately, Linux run from a Live
CD will he slower than normal, and you
won't be able 10 retain your data between
sessions, so at some point a full install will
be needed. The good news, tiowever, is
that you don't need highly specified
hardware, even for a shared network server.
Hardware support is much the same as for
Windows, such that it it can run the
Microsoft OS it ought to be able to run Linux
and, usually, deliver better performance.

Vinualisation can be a big help, especially
when evaluating Linux for the first time.
Rather than dedicating hardware to the
project, a free vinualisation tool such as
VMware Server (www.vwmare.com) or Citrix
Xen Server (www.titrix.com) can be used to host
virtual machines running the more popular
distros. If you don't get on with it, a virtual
machine can simply be binned. On the other
hand, if it's a runner, you can either port the

A Linux system running Samba can be used to
share files and printers on a Windows network

VM to a physical environment or carry on
running the Linux OS virtually. Another
lunclii i^ the abilit) to lake snapshots of
virtual machines or simply copy the virtual
disks involved rather than have to make
backup provisions tor your Linux systems.

Having played with Linux lor a while, and
assuming you're happy with il, you'll waul
i<> mi ii to work, flic best approach here is
to introduce Linux systems gradually, starting
with servers, as that way you'll get the
biggest benefits tor the least disruption.

Most companies, for example, start out
using Linux for lile sharing using lhc Samba
application bundled with iniisl of the disiros.
This enables a Linux server In support the
same (S.MB/CfFS) file-sharing protocols as
used by Windows PCs and is olten configured
and ready to use right from the off. It ii isn't,
il's usually fairly straightforward, with no
changes required at the user end. Indeed,
otiee up and running users won't even know
they're storing their files on anything ottier
than a Windows server.

Nexl you might want to think aboul
hosting an intranet or public web server,
typically by running the Apache soltware
included with the Linux OS. Most distros
come with bundled email, database and other
server applications which can, similarly, be
integrated into your
network setup.

Ii makes sense
to start this way,
introducing Linux-
based servers rather
than desktops.
Switching desktop
users, in comparison,
is likely to he much
more problematic,
calling for a lot more
planning and end-user
training lo get everyone used to the new
environment. Still, it can be done and the
benefits are certainly there, so why not
give ii a try? PCW

Choose your distro

Don't let the bewildering array of Linux
distros put you off. If it's a serious
business platform you want, the choices
are a lot more limited. Here are our
recommendations:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

www.iedtiat.cani

RHEL is one of the most comprehensive
distros around, with server and desktop
implementations aimed at businesses.
However, a support and maintenance
subscription is required, so it may not
be the best choice if you're not sure
that Linux is for you If not, consider
Fedora Core (http://fedora project.org), a
community-developed distro sponsored
by Red Hat, or Centos (www.centos.019).
a free compatible rebuild of RHEL.

Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise

www.novell.com/linux

Similarly aimed at business buyers
with both server and desktop
implementations, the Suse distros
can be downloaded for free, but a
subscription is required for updates and
support. The community-developed
Opens use (www.opensuse.org) is worth
considering as an alternative as it's free
(a version with installation support is
available), with similar functionality.

Ubuntu

www.ubuntu.com

Ubuntu is one of the most popular free
distros Based on Debian Linux, Ubuntu
is available for both server and desktop
deployment. The Ubuntu distro is
community-developed, with optional
commercial support from Canonical

Mandriva Linux One
www.mandriva.org

A popular desktop Linux distro,
available in
Live CD format
and on a
bootable USB
key. Best
evaluated
for desktop
deployment.
Enterprise server
and desktop
products arc
also available.

You can boot from a five CD with Mandriva
and try Linux without having to install
anything on the PC hard disk

:" WWW.pCW.CO.uk

111

BUSINESS ews

MULTIFUNCTION PRINTER

Lexmark X7675

Do it ail with this bargain MFP for wired and wireless networks

— Personal. * i

Computer

■»*

The built-in Will of the
smart-looking Lexmark X7675
lets users print, copy, scan and
fax wlrelessly

The X7675 is a smart-looking all-in-one printer
from Lexmark that not only produces high-
quality colour prints, but scans and copies
original documents and acts as a colour fax machine.

Designed for sharing, the X7675 offers wireless and
wined networking as standard. It also comes with a
duplexer for double-sided printing and a bundle of
useful software, including tools that can remotely scan
over a network and convert scanned documents to
readable text.

A compact but very square device, the X7675 is
effectively a colour Inkjet printer with a flatbed scanner
on top. Paper is fed in at the back - up to 100 sheets
at a time - and the printed pages are ejected from the
front. List above the output path is an angled control
console with a colour display.

Its buttons are all big and well labelled, which
helped us to work our way through most common
operations without having to refer to the
comprehensive manual that's also in the box. Copying
was a doddle, with facilities to produce up to 99 copies
at a time and reduce and enlarge along the way.

A comprehensive set of memory card slots is
another standard feature, and built-in software lets you
browse card contents and print photos directly without
using a PC. There's a USB port on the front but it can
only be used with Pi ctb ridge -enabled Flash drives and
digital cameras.

Around the back is a US82 interface for direct
PC attachment, telephone jacks for the fax modem,
a Gigabit Ethernet port and the antenna for the
Wifi print server. These were all very easy to set
up although we did have to connect via one of
the other interfaces first to configure the WPA

security settings we needed to use our Wifi router.

Two cartridges are required: one black, the other
colour. So-called high-yield cartridges are included, but
the black gives no more than 500 pages while the
colour cartridge handles just 350. We found
replacements selling for between £28 and £31 ex Vat,
which translates to around 5-Sp per page on average.

Maximum print speed is up to 32 pages per minute
(ppm) for monochrome and 27ppm for colour.
However, those figures arc for draft printing, and most
of the documents we tested took a lot longer. Indeed,
when we selected the best possible quality it took
around a minute to print a page of text. Photographs
likewise took a long time to print with the special
colour cartridges designed for doing a lot of
photographic work. Most day-to-day documents
pri ntcd out at a speed of arou nd 1 2 - 1 5ppm

Print quality is good We could still tell that the
documents had been produced by an inkjet, but the
results are impressive nonetheless and more than
adequate for most business purposes. Duplexing is
turned on by default, with the printer pausing to let
the first side of the page dry before orienting the other
to minimise smudging.

We also liked the bundled software that could scan
documents to network PCs, scan to email, convert
captured documents to editable text, send faxes and so
on. The only issue was the need to install the utilities
on each user PC: they can't be operated directly from
the printer control panel.

A very robust and businesslike device, the X7675
comes with a five-year warranty and at the time of
writing its price had been reduced considerably, making
it a real small-business bargain Alan Stevens

Verdict

Pros Wired and Wifi networking;

duplexer; easy to use, comprehensive

bundle of software tools; very

affordable

Cons Hot always as fast as claimed.

USB port can't handle ordinary Flash

sticks

Overall A good solution for the small

business looking for a good -quality

multifunction printer at a bargain

price

Features jk-*t* +

Performance *#+

Value far money **-* +

Overall

• •••

Price £149.99 (£130.43
ex Vat)

Contact Lexmark 0870 444 0044

www.lexmark.co.uk
Specifications Up to 32ppm
(monochrome) and 2 7 ppm (colour)
inkjet • 4,BOOx2,4Q0dpi • 100-sheet
A4 feeder • 48-bit colour flatbed
scanner • 25-page automatic
document feeder * Integrated fax
modem * Direct printing from memory
card ■ USB2, Gigabit Ethernet and
802. 11b/g Wifi interfaces • 5,000
pages/month duty cycle

112

www.pcw.co.uk

reviews, BUSINESS

NETWORK-ATTACHED STORAGE

Lacie 5big Network

Solid and straightforward five-disk storage device

The brushed-aluminium casing holds a five-disk array that
can deliver up to 7.5TB of shared network storage

With its sleek, brushed-aluminium case and
large blue 'eye', the Lacie 5big Network
looks like a larger version of the 2big
Network storage device we reviewed in April 2008.
And effectively that's what the 5big Network is. This
newly released member of the Lacie family offers even
greater storage capacity, together with advanced Raid
protection and additional expansion facilities

The plain design of the 5big Network may not be
to everyone's taste but it is unobtrusive and very quiet
in operation. Power comes from an external AC
adapter and an ultra-quiet fan makes it possible to site
the appliance in an open-plan office without having to
worry about noise.

The 5big Network is also designed to be a power-
efficient unit. A default auto mode on the three-
position power switch lets the appliance go to standby
when it's not in use

As the name implies, the 5big Network has five
storage bays (at the back), each of which is fitted with
a standard Sata hard disk. Ours came with five 1TB
Hitachi disks, giving a nominal capacity of 5TB. Smaller
2.5TB (£595.64 ex Vat) and larger 7.5T8 (£1 ,273.90 ex
Vat) models are also available

Usable capacity will depend on the level of Raid
protection applied. By default, the appliance comes
configured as a Raid 5 array, so data is striped across
all the disks together with parity information, enabling
the 5b ig Network to carry on working even if one of
its disks develops a fault. You get 80 per cent free
space in Raid 5 mode, which drops to 60 per cent if
you switch to Raid 6 where more recovery data is
striped across the array to enable it to continue
working even if two disks fail Capacity is further

reduced if you configure one disk as a hot spare, but
you can also go for simple disk mirroring or no Raid
protection at all.

The disks are mounted in special hot-swap carriers.
We found them quite fiddly to open, but then you
shouldn't have to change disks that often Underneath
are all the connectors, with a single Gigabit Ethernet
port for network attachment. Alongside is a USB and
three eSata connectors, all of which can be used to
connect extra disks to the appliance to take backups,
import data or add capacity.

We found the Lacie hardware very easy to install.
A utility is provided to locate the device on the
network and all subsequent management is browser-
based. The browser interface is plain but
straightforward, with simple menus that let you define
users and groups, configure shares and schedule
backups. You can also change the Raid level, although
this can take a long time (up to 30 hours in the worst
case) and any data on the array will be lost, so it's a
good idea to be sure about the Raid mode you want
before starting to use the appliance in earnest.

One big disappointment was the lack of extras
often found on competing products, such as built-in
web, database and streaming media servers, which are
now commonplace. You do, though, get support for
multiple file sharing protocols, so the 5big Network
can be used on mixed Windows, Linux and Apple
Mac networks. Active Directory integration is also
available, along with both https and FTP file
sharing and an integrated Bittorrent server.

Finally, there's bundled PC and Mac client backup
software, rounding off a very solid and straightforward
storage appliance solution. Alan Stevens

Verdict

Pros Five disks; Raid support with
optional hot spares; USB and eSata
expansion; quiet; integrated backup
Cons Lacks add-on features found on
other Nas devices; slow rebuild times
Overall A well-specified Nas unit.
but not cheap and alternatives are
available that ofler more
Features ***

Performance *#*

Value for money iririt

Overall

• ••

Price £1,074.99 (£934.77
ex Vat) for 2.5TB model

Contact Lacie 020 7250 4105

www.lacie.com

Specifications Network-attached
storage (Nas) appliance * Five 1TB
hot- swap Sata disks • Choice of Raid
0, Raid 5, Raid 5 + spare. Raid 6. Raid
10, Raid 10 + spare configurations •
Gigabit Ethernet port • USB2 port and
three eSata ports for expansion, data
import and backup

■" www.pcw.co.uk

113

BUSINESS ews

SMTP MAIL SERVER

Kerio Mail Server 6.6

An SMTP mail server robust enough to replace Microsoft Exchange

fljd -i

," Resources

I T.-T-n-l,

P<*«*= (tonk^d "*

fen* thupar!

^tWtyo

on! 1 it ftjgr tntfq pdc*

■JBf»# ^^^It

Tv**l " t4J*>i-ri

lORHin

c* ",*->; H |

j I teron ]

The latest Kerio Mail
Server allows users to
reserve rooms and
equipment for meetings
from their email client

Kerio Mail Server is an affordable yet robust
SMTP mail server, with plenty to interest small
businesses, including integrated anti-virus and
anti-spam protection, comprehensive collaboration
features, push email and mobile synchronisation The
6 6 release also includes an Exchange migration tool,
making it easy for Microsoft users to switch, and new
resource scheduling facilities that let users reserve
rooms and equipment via email.

Another key selling point is that Kerio Mail Server
can be hosted on Apple Mac and Linux platforms, so
you don't necessarily need an expensive Windows
licence to run it.

Nor do you need a highly specified server: for our
tests, we used an old desktop PC with a 2CHz
processor and 1GB of Ram, which would be adequate
for up to 20 users There's even a ready-to-run
implementation in the form of a VMware appliance

The fact that there arc no dependencies on host
mail services makes Kerio Mail Server easy to install.
Changes to DNS and firewall settings may be required
- to direct incoming messages to the correct host - but
for most small businesses this can be handled by the
incumbent service provider, who can also advise on
whether a fixed public IP address will be needed.

The mail server runs as a background task Day-to-
day management is via a Windows, Mac or Linux
console with a simple tree -structured menu interface.
This makes it easy to perform common tasks such as
adding users, a task that took us just a few minutes
using the integrated database for authentication;
support for Windows and Apple directory services is
also available.

We opted to use the built-in McAfee anti-virus

scanner, which is a cheap yet very effective way of
screening for viruses, Trojans and other malware.
Plug-ins for other anti-virus products are also provided,
and you can have two scanners active together if you
want. You also get a plethora of anti-spam tools
including support for local and internet blacklists, an
integrated implementation of Spam Assassin and
custom content filter rules.

Comprehensive archiving facilities are another
welcome option, together with a built-in backup
service and scheduler.

On the client side, we used Outlook with the Kerio
Outlook Connector, through which we were able to
manage messages, contacts and calendars in much the
same way as in Exchange Support for offline use is
further enhanced in the latest version, with Mac users,
too, able to get access to the collaboration features via
native support for the Mac iCal client.

The messaging and collaboration features arc also
accessible via a web-based client. This has an
Outlook-like look and feel, and a cut-down version is
available for mobiles.

It's also possible to push messages, contacts and
tasks out to mobile users and synchronise wirelessly
with a variety of popular devices. No extra middleware
is needed to do this, with the software offering
enhanced support for iPhone and Windows Mobile
clients using Exchange Activcsync 12.

In terms of functionality, Kerio Mail Server 6.6 has
at least as much to offer the small business as
Exchange and at a much lower cost in tenns of the
software, hardware and management. It is not the
only Exchange alternative on the market, but it is up
there with the best of them. Alan Stevens

Verdict

Pros Low startup costs; cross-
platform support; integrated security
tools; collaboration features; push
email and mobile synchronisation
Cons 32-bil hosts only; no inslanl
messaging server
Overall A serious alternative to
Exchange for small businesses with
limited budgets and technical
expertise

Features ****

Ease of use ** + *

Value for money itirifk

Overall

• •••

Price From £343.85 (£299
ex Vat) for 1 users with
McAfee anti-virus
Contact Kerio Technologies
01223 370 136 www.kerio.co.uk
System requirements Minimum of
1GHz processor, 512MB Ram and
40GB free disk space • 32-bit version
of Windows 2000 (SP4). XP, Vista,
Server 2003/2008 or supported Linux
distro * Mac requirements are G4/G5
with 1GB Ram plus OSX 10.3 or later

114

www.pcw.co.uk

reviews, BUSINESS

DIGITAL PROJECTOR

Infocus IN5102

A projector that can give the really big picture

The massive array of input and output connectors at the back of the
IN5102 includes an HDMI port

ThelN5102
is a btg
projector for
big venues

x\J

In previous business projector reviews we've
concentrated mainly on products designed for
small meeting rooms and offices. But the IN5102
from Infocus is a very different beast, designed for
use in much larger venues, and with features and a
price to match.

The first thing you notice is the IN5102's sheer size
It's a very big projector, with a large lens at the front
and a pop-up door on the top giving access to the
manual focus, zoom and image offset controls The
standard lens should be sufficient for most situations
but short and long throw lenses can be also purchased,
if required.

Another option is a ceiling mount (around £80 ex
Vat), into which the projector is installed upside down
to allow the bulb to be changed in situ

Sprouting from the back is an initially bewildering
array of connectors, starting with a standard 1 5-pin
video socket for PC attachment {cable supplied).
There's also an HDMI port alongside a set of
component BNC connectors, another of component
RCA jacks, as well as S-video and composite RCA
video connectors. Video and audio outputs are also
located on the back panel and there's a pair of 4W
stereo speakers built in.

A network port lets you set up and control the
projector from a browser, and it's possible to attach a
wireless adapter, the Litcshow II (around £90 ex Vat),
to deliver presentations over a Wifi link.

The on/off button is located on the top of the
IN5102, as are a number of other basic controls,
although everything you need to do can be done
from the remote control provided, which also
incorporates a laser pointer.

Turn the IN5102 on and the projector automatically
searches for an active source; there are buttons on the
remote for manual selection, if needed, tikewise, you
can use the remote to configure the projector; it has
the usual controls for brightness, colour and picture
alignment, including keystone correction. All are easy
to set up with no special expertise needed and plenty
of adjustment to suit a wide range of conditions.

Like most digital projectors, the IN 51 02 is driven by
a Texas Instruments digital light processor, a proven
product that gives excellent reproduction. Teamed with
a 275W lamp, it generates a very bhght picture, rated
at up to 4,000 ansi lumens, that gives the kind of
results required in a large space. At around £250 ex
Vat the bulb isn't cheap, but it should last for around
2,000 hours, which is about par for the course on this
type of product.

Maximum resolution is 1,600x1 ,200 pixels (UXGA),
with support for 16.7 million colours. There's support
too for widescreen (16:9) display; the IN1502
automatically switched to this mode when we played a
widescreen movie from a 1080p upscaling DVD player
attached to the HDMI port.

We got excellent pictures on our tests and,
although the IN5102 is not the quietest projector
we've tried, the fan is far from intrusive and no louder
than on other projectors of this type.

Guaranteed for three years (one year for the bulb),
the IN5102 is a versatile large-venue solution, dearly
designed with training and education in mind, but
equally suited to more general business use. It's not
cheap, but it compares well against similarly priced
alternatives. Anyone looking for this type of projector
will find it a good small-business buy. Alan Stevens

Verdict

Pros HDMI input; Texas Instruments

chip; optional wiretess network

interface; optional short/ long throw

lenses

Cons Bulky; cost of replacement

bulbs

Overall A well-made and versatile

large-venue projector for training,

education and general business use

Features *#*

Pert o mnance irifk

Value for money * * *

Overall

•••

Price £1,591.86
(£1,384.23 ex Vat)
Contact Infocus +31 (0)36 539 2000
ww w.i nfocus.com
Specifications Texas Instruments
DLP processor, native XGA resolution
(1.024x768) projector * 275W lamp *
4,000 ansi lumens • 1,000:1 contrast
ratio ■ 50-120Hz vertical scan rate •
15-pin analogue video, HDMI port*
Jacks for component BNC.
component RCA, composite RCA and
S-video * Video out port • 4W stereo
speakers • Remote control • 32 dB
operation

•' www.pcw.co.uk

115

BUSINESS ews

SERVER BACKUP AND RECOVERY

Double-Take Livewire

A new and much cheaper take on Double-Take

Ffc v*. <io food

lot tree

fcMrt*

a Prepare Recovery Server
Pnem* ti* wcovtty ten* tv nfutog .ftET rimw jrd

tMrtv !■:">- .'T Ml

f w dx (ww to p »*« r.

BMhfl

.;.--*-. '" r^i^Yr i

Tasts:

C ■:h**-*cwsstoH»^tr

C te*e*H»A(]plunc«L0Nl4t

C lwtsJ «T Ml

The Livewire agent can
be pushed to a recovery
server on demand, but
the OS needs to be
installed first

A popular high-availability enterprise solution,
Double-Take can mirror server content in real
time and provide rapid recovery in the event of
a failure. However, Double-Take is far from cheap and
needs a dedicated backup system for each protected
server. So now there's Livewire, a much cheaper
implementation that uses the same Double-Take
replication technology to protect servers, without the
need for dedicated backup hardware.

Livewire is designed for use with servers that arc
not mission-critical and accordingly have no
requirement for instant recovery. It's available for use
with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows
Server: the first release supports Windows Server 2003,
including the Ft 2 release

Systems to be protected are designated as 'source'
servers, with the Livewire software installed on each
continuously replicating the data it holds to a
repository on a separate 'image' server. Everything on
the source can be replicated, including system-state,
Registry and other critical system information. There's
also support for Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy
Service (VSS), to ensure data consistency with
databases and other running applications.

The image server can protect more than one source
server, the only limitations being disk space, network
bandwidth and licensing (each Livewire source needs
its own licence). But because it's not a dedicated
backup system, there's no quick failover facility should
problems arise. Instead, the backup has to be restored
to a 'recovery' server, the time involved depending on
the amount of data to be copied.

On the plus side, the recovery server doesn't need
to be configured with identical hardware to the source.

It can even be a virtual machine (VM), with facilities to
automatically provision a suitable VM if using VMware
vi realisation, although ESX and Virtual Center are
required for this to work. The Livewire management
tool can also push the necessary agent out to the
recovery server, so you don't need a licensed copy of
Livewire pre-installed and waiting around on potential
recovery servers just in case.

We found it very easy to use the Windows-based
console that manages Livewire. A Protect button tells
the software which servers to replicate, and the Recover
button will configure recovery jobs. A Monitor button
lets you see what's going on, check the logs and so on.

Wizards help with most tasks, and Livewire does a
good job at replicating and recovering server data. That
said, it wasn't always as easy as we would have liked
and you certainly need to put time aside to get
everything set up and working, especially as we found
the documentation lacking in detail.

Another concern is the lack of support for any kind
of bare-metal recovery. Rather, the host OS needs to
be recovered first, but. before the recovery process can
begin, the Livewire software has to be pushed out or
manually installed, all of which adds to the recovery
time and work involved.

Cost is a further factor. Although a lot cheaper than
the full Double-Take product, Livewire is still an
expensive small-business option Compared to
conventional tape backup, perhaps, there's not much
in it. But you need to have a Windows host for the
Livewire image server and you can't just store the
backups on a network share, as you can with some
simpler imaging products, which can also recover to
bare metal if needed Alan Stevens

Verdict

Pros Same server replication
technology as full Double-Take
product; many- to-one server
replication; straightforward
management console; VSS support
Cons No bare -metal recovery;
expensive for small businesses
Overall Cheaper than the full
Double-Take product but alternatives
offer the small business more for less
Features ***

Ease of use +* +

Value for money * *

Overall

• ••

Price £1,129.30 (£982 ex
Vat) per source server

Contact Double -Take Software
01905 745 711 www.doubletake.com
System requirements Source

servers can be Windows Server 2003
or 2003 R2, 32 -bit and 64- bit,

Standard, Enterprise, Web or SBS
edition

116

www.pcw.co.uk

Open up to
greener business

News and analysis for
businesses aiming to
boost efficiency and cut
their carbon output

businessGreen.com

www.businessgreen.com

Experience the Power of Teamwork!

Microsoft

NSPCC

computing

Intelligent Sjnorf

IMG

sports ' ent&rtalnmen; ■ meefe

(Oh JJ1? r nl °» ^^ Cambrian Mountains, Wales

\su UK Challenge j 10 -14 June 2009

INTELLIGENCE. STRATEGY. TEAMWORK.

Prepare for a true test of mind, body and team spirit as you and your colleagues go head to head against 1 30 UK based teams
in a series of adrenalin fuelled stages. Designed specifically for business people, the Microsoft UK Challenge is a unique 5 day

m u 1 1 i - s p or t a d ve rttu re race, com b i n i ng th e th r i I Is of ad ve ntu re s port with strate g i c ch a 1 1 e n g e a n d r e a I bu s i n e s s co m peti ti o n .
Based on the proven Intelligent Sport- formula, used by top companies all over the world, this concept stretches and develops
team and individual performance like no other. Is your team ready for the adventure of a lifetime?

The Challenge is set!

For your free information pack...

www.ukchallenge.co.uk uk@challengerworld.com

Practical advice from the industry's experts

EDITED BY WILL STAPLEY

GONE IN A FLASH

If you've accidentally deleted photos from your camera's memory
^L ' ^^ card, this month's Digital Imaging could be a life-saver. We look at
^^. mk what can go wrong, explain how pictures can be recovered and

put the five most popular recovery packages through their paces.
Staying on a storage theme. Hardware concentrates on Raid. With many
different Raid arrays available, deciding which one to go with isn't always easy. We
detail the most popular arrays and go over the pros and cons of each.

In Databases, we examine the often misunderstood relationship between Access
and SQL Server, while the Unix method of handling disks is explained in Linux. We
also look at Windows Media Player 1 1 in Sound, and list some handy shortcuts that
will help you get the most out of it.

CONTENTS

120 QUESTION TIME

Our experts answer your
questions

124 HARDWARE

Find the right Raid for you
by testing the different
configurations available

126 PERFORMANCE

Grab video from unprotected
sources with an HDMI
capture card

128 WINDOWS

5top Microsoft's Intellipomt
mouse software from
gobbling up too much
memory

138 LINUX/UNIX

Understand how Unix's disk
handling differs from
Windows' method

140 DIGITAL IMAGING
& VIDEO

Rescue your pictures when
the memory card fails

142 WORD

PROCESSING

We explore the latest version
of Open Office

144 SPREADSHEETS

Spice up your Excel
spreadsheets with impressive
looking graphs

146 SOUND

How to avoid the annoying
quirks of Microsoft's
Windows Media Player 1 1

148 NETWORKS

Sychronise files that need to
be kept on more than one PC

150 DATABASES

The effect of upsizing on
Visual Basic code and
manipulating SQL Server
via Access

152 VISUAL

PROGRAMMING

We look at how Silverlight
and Live Mesh are blurring
the web/desktop boundaries

Far left:
Extending the
WMP buffer can
improve
performance
(seepage 146)

Left: Typical disk
layout on a
dual -boot Unix
system (see
page 138)

26 PAGES OF...

> ADVICE

• TOP TIPS

TECHNIQUES

WORKSHOPS

HARDWARE
SOLUTIONS

• SOFTWARE
SOLUTIONS

:•'.' www.pcw.co.uk

119

HANDS ON > QUESTION TIME

Advice from our experts

Our experts solve your problems

HARDWARE

QI have an XP-based Media
Center PC that i'm trying
to upgrade to handle I ID
DVD and Blu-ray discs. I've just
installed the LC combined I1D
DVD/Blu-ray drive, but it still
doesn't work because my onboard
graphics chip, an Nvidia 6150,
doesn't handle HO content
very well. I'm
considering
adding a
graphics card.
I'm not

bothered about
gaming capability, bill
would like something that will
handle Blu-ray video and take as
much of the load off the CPU as
possible. It needs lo be a quiet
(preferably silent) PCI Express
card, with VGA and DVI outputs,
and inexpensive. I'd also like id
be able to drive my 32in Samsung
TV at its native resolution of
1,360x768 over ait H DM1 connection
iT possible.
vinct' Sutter

A The combination of high hit
rates and complex compression
means playback of Blu-ray and
HD DVD titles can cause issues lor
even fairly modem PC configurations.
Indeed, even hall-decent dual-core
processors can he ntaxed out at 100
per cent attempting to do the job
alone. This is no different to normal
DVDs when they first arrived, and
coming to the rescue then, as now, are
graphics chipsets with hardware
acceleration to take the strain.

As you've already realised, your ATI's 4850 graphics

onboard Nvidia 61 50 isn't really up to card car be used

the job, so it you'd like to offload most for Blu-ray

of the strain from your CPU and plcture-ln-pieture

guarantee smoother playback you'll

need to fit a graphics card with

hardware deceleration dedicated to the

formats used by Blu-ray and HO DVD.

II you're going for an Nvidia
solution, you're looking at a card with
a deforce 8 series or higher with
support lor Pure-video HD. II you're
going lor ATI, you'll need a Radeon
HD 2000 or higher (HD 4800 series lor
Blu-ray piclure-in-picture), with
support for Avivo HD.

Wlici i choosing a card, he sure
to check the small print, as some

models may nm fully support the A streaming device

respective acceleration technologies such as Pinnacle's

required. You'll also need to install Showcenter uses

the latest drivers to support the your PC as a

a a deration. display

Gigabyte offers fanless models
with HD acceleration, PCI Express
interlaces and DVI outputs (which
can be adapted to HDM1); its
C-V-NXB6T256H and GV-RX26T256H
use the Nvidia 8600 GT and ATI 11D
2600 XP GPUs, respectively.

As for driving your display at its
native resolution, this is an issue that
many media PC enthusiasts face,
especially with wide XGA displays.
Resolutions of 1,360x768 are normally
possible in most graphics drivers (at
least those bom Nvidia), although
displays with 1,366x768 resolutions
can prove trickier.

S the graphics driver doesn't
offer [lie desired resolution, you may
be able to force it using the
Powerstrip utility ( http://entedtlaiwan.
cotn/util/ps.shttn), although there's no
guarantee your TV will like the
signal. You may also lind restrictions
with the IIDMI interlace, in which
case you'll have to compare the
quality of HDMI with scaling
against an analogue connection
without scaling,

Ql've got a Oell Dimension
500 deskiop, a Sony Vaio
FX21M laptop and a Buffalo
500GB Link Station Live Nas (which
stores my CD collection). The Dell is
connected via Ethernet to a BT Home
Hub, as is the Buffalo Nas. The Sony
connects wirelessly.

I'd like lo play my music in the
lounge, which t do at present by
Connecting the Sony to (he TV via an
i-IDMI cable and playing the sound
(h rough a Sony Home Theatre
Syslcm. This way, 1 can display ihc
CD cover and track information on
the TV so it can be seen from a
distance. What I can'l do is select the
appropriate CD from (he other side or
the room using a remote,

I've looked at the Squeezcbox but
can'l display the whole library listing
and the display is too small to read
from the other side of the room. I've
also looked ai [he Squeezebox Duet,
which initially looked like the

20 www.pcw.co.uk Man

MORE HANDS QUESTION TIME
Go to www.pcw.co.uk/tags/faq

QUESTION TIME < HANDS ON

answer, bul I've heard tiie interface is
not very user-friendly,

John Reeves

A There are several routes you
can take U> achieve this goal.
First find some means to
simply reunite control your laptop
when it's connected to your TV - [here
are a number of third -party remotes
that would do the trick, and most
wilt integrate with popular software
music players. Alternatively, you
could run remote control software
on a PDA that's also connected to
your wireless network.

Second, you cotdd go for a
streaming appliance, such as the
Squeeze box, although, as you
mentioned, the display on the device is
not visible front across a room. As yon
know, the newer Squctyebox Duel
comes with a remote that features a
screen, so would seem appropriate
for your needs. As for the user
interface, though, only you can decide
whether it's friendly or not.

A third option would he to go for a
streaming appliance that uses your TV
as a display. Typical examples include
the Pinnacle Showccnler 250HD or, if
you're streaming Irom a Media tenter
PC, a Media Center Extender device
such as the Xbox 360.

A fourth option is to go for a media
PC system, which again would use
your TV as an interface.

SPREADSHEETS

Ql have a list of players and
l heir scores entered on an
Excel worksheet. I warn to
show the highest scorer. I can use the
=max function 10 discover the
highest score in a column, but the
problem I am having is displaying
l he adjacent name of that scorer in a
Highest Scorer cell.
Alan Wiseman

A Excel offers many ways of
solving this common problem.
Here's just one solution. It
the scores arc in the range B2:B16
and the players' names are adjacent
in C2:C 1 6, you can enter this formula
in cell A2:

=VL00KUP{MAX(B2:B16),.
82:016,2,0)
l Key. u vckIc suing coiiiiiiui-s*

(see screen I).

Running in full screen

WINDOWS

Ql am trying to use the Sapphire
Group's Dataease Database for Dos,
but in Vista the Command Prompt
option uses a small window that cannot be
extended to full screen such as in Windows XP.
Is there a way to amend Windows Vista so that
the Command Prompt will run in full screen? In
XP and previous versions of Windows, pressing
Ait & Enter would do the trick, but Vista
doesn't respond to this
Roger Marriott

A You can resize manually by right-
clicking on the title bar of the command
window and choosing Defaults. In the
layout tab. set the screen buffer size, window
size, and window position appropriately (see
screen). On a 1 ,280x1,024 display with the
default command prompt font, 160x300,
160x80 and 0,0 seems to work. OK out, then
click the Maximise/Restore buttons and you
should get something approaching a maximised
window, though you may have to experiment.
A more elegant way is to open an elevated

Gp-ttt j port .

Wind** ?Jt*t*w

r, ~ j ■■'— ■ * "B jvyjih ik j

1 wpti ■;:

nflfc* PqmCh

Lrt

' \x tfam Buttm *Mo«

OK || cm

How to stretch the Vista Command Prompt

command prompt (right-click, run as
administrator) then type WMIC and press Enter
Click the maximise button, then type 'exit'
Right-click on the title bar, choose Properties,
then turn to the Layout tab and click OK

D E F

[ «

1 \_

Bob

Ski

25
JO

Vil
Art
Bob

Dot

■:

Gas

1'.

14
»

Pim

44
33

Ron

1 '

John

38
1?

B*ty
Skmofl

!■

Frad

Using Excel 2007 for my

self -employ mem rcunifUs
[ often need to count a

number of items thai I have filtered.
An example is the Debtors' Ledger.
I mighl want to count those unpaid
invoices at a certain dale. In oilier
words, how can 1 count the number
of rows in a filtered list?
Wrice Ijeigh

A Look at the Slams liar ai
the foot of the screen. To the
right of the word 'Ready' it

wiil say 10 of 100 records found,
assuming your hill list has 100
records and you've filtered out 1 0.

Excel offers various
ways of displaying
the highest scorer
In a game

II you want a cell to display the
number ol records displayed on the
shorl list, and your list has a header
row, enter in the totalling cell;
=SUBT0TAL(2,A2:A101)

ff yon used
=C0UNT(A2:A1Q1)
it would count the complete list.

Ql can't gel along wilh ihe
touch pad on my laptop. A i
home I have a USB mouse.
When [ravelling I like to use
keyboard shortcuts, bul I can'! find
tine for selling an Excel column
width. Is I here one?
Addon Walsh

A As is typical with Excel, you
have a choice. The universal
shortcut, including Excel
2007, is Alt 5- O. Press C then W,
type in a width number and then
press Enter. In Excel 2007 only, you
can also press the All key by ilself,
then successively, II, O and W. Type
in a width number and press Enter,
tl you have a real memory for
shorten is you could also press Ctrl &
Spacebar to select the entire column,
press Shift f. I 111 to display the right-
click menu, then press C twice. Press
Enter, type in a width number and
press Enter again.

•' www.pcw.co.uk

121

HANDS ON > QUESTION TIME

-A.I =SUBSTITUTE(E

-JAR

itn»

rt«;M =K'»

. A

C D

F G

Here
are

Here are the winners for:

the

Jan

Feb Mar

winners

for:

QI have a title in one Excel
Worksheet cell ami waul to
put each word on a new
line. I know I could pTCSS Alt fr Enter
after every word but wondered if
there was a faster way ofdoing it.
Johnnie Mason

A Yon could enter text normally
in a spare cell and in your title
tell use the SUBSTITUTE
function. For example, il the text were
in cell Bl, in the other cell enter
=SUBSTITUTE(E1," ",CHAfl(10>)
Then right -click on that cell and
choose Format Cells, Alignment and
check the Wrap text box. That will
do it (see screen 2).

Qin hid the top rows of an
Excel 2007 worksheet, I'm
unsure how I could make
them visible again. Any suggestions?
Tim Baden

A I'm glad you avoided that
dreadful Microsoft word -
unhide. Like uncheck, it makes
me uncomfortable. With the mouse
you can point to the bottom ol the
SelectAH button, which is to the left of
the column letters and above the row
numbers. When it makes an equals
sign with opposing arrows, right-click
and choose Unhide,

III.

L4MHJ.M

1 j# 3his 1, IT"'&

Ml CHI lm*rt tw*ti **nm WW*

»-Wi Jdtw . ...

'- OS.

MM.

L U N

iiiiiiiK "nfjiiM

j£c*r ntr Crjp| 5r>re!

U\t t nlrii »

gg frautisuwi

X Fhaii^

simultaneously in a range of cells'?
Gaffs Peel

All the range consists oi
continuous cells, highlight the
range and press Ctrl & semi-
colon (;), Then press Ctrl & Shift &
Enter. 11 it's a continuous range, click
on the first cell, hold down Shift, click
on the last cell then continue as before.

DIGITAL IMAGING

QI have a small problem with
Proshow Cold (so, il seems,
dues everyone else). How
can you remove the annoying

I'm glad you avoided that dreadful Microsoft
word - unhide. It makes me uncomfortable'

Alternatively, press Ctrl & G, or the
F5 key. This opens the Go To dialogue
box. II the hidden rows are I through 4
enter 1:4 in the Reference: box, (.'.lick
OK. This selects the invisible rows.
Under the Home tab, click Format,
choose Hide & Unhide under Visibility,
then select Unhide Rows (see screen 3|.

I'm new to spreadsheets and
trying to learn Excel. How
can 1 enter the day's date

Photodex letterbox that appears at
the beginning of every sequence?

Keith Lumbar;

A Click the Create output hiittun
and select an output option in
the Create Output window.
Then click the Shows tab and uncheck
the 'Include Intro Show' checkbox.
Alternatively, you can replace the
default Photodex iutro with your own
by clicking the Select Show button and

Above: The
Substitute
function helps you
wrap a title

Making hidden
rows visible again
Is simple

choosing any previously created
slideshow (sec screen 4|.

QMy wife is a teacher and it
would be very useful to have
a device to show pupils'
work, large enough for a whole class
to see. We have tried mounting a
webcam approximately 3 00 mm
above a desk, facing downwards
toward a sample of pupil's work
directly below. The image is captured
in real lime and displayed using a
laptop connected to a digital
projector, which displays the image
on a screen for pupils to see.

It is important that the image is
sharp enough for the pupils to be
able to read the text; however, the
video image occupies only a small
area of the PC screen (the best camera
we could find was 800x600 pixels),
thus wasting a lot of the usable area
going to the interpolated 1,600x1,200
resolution. Zooming in using
software gave a grainy image.

Do you know of any high-quality
webcams that might be able to do
this job, or maybe a 'normal' digital
camera from which a high-quality
video signal is available? 1 have seen
products called 'visnaltscrs' dial do
this Job) but they are outside our
budget (circa £700).
James A Dave

A You're unlikely to find a
webcam that provides such a
high-resolution image, but
there are other options. You could use
a camcorder or, as you suggest, a
digital still camera that has a live video
Feed. Your existing software will
probably recognise the camera as aw
input device; if not, take a look at
Webcam l)V iwww.weucamthr.tom}

Another option, albeit less
immediate, would he to use a flatbed
scanner. A hi id gel A4 flat lied
costing less than £50 would provide a
higher resolution image superior in
quality to even an HD camcorder
and would take only a few seconds
to scan and display a page,

DATABASES

Ql'm developing an Access
database for a local charity.
The database is split, with
the data tables stored in databases
on the server and a front end on
each desktop machine to access (he-
data. A copy of the from end is
stored on the server and when I make
changes it is to this version.

122 www.pcw.co.uk March 2C

QUESTION TIME < HANDS ON

Configuring the Bios setup

HARDWARE

Barry Shilliday's excellent article.
Loin the Linux Revolution (PCW
Christmas 2009), fell short for a
novice like me with the
magnificently disingenuous
advice on loading Linux:
"Once the CD has been
burned, you are almost
ready to go. The PC must
be configured to boot
from the CD. which can
be done via the Bios
setup if it isn't already
configured."

I pressed F8, which
allows my Windows XP SP2
to be loaded In safe mode.

Nothing about being
able to boot from a CD.
Please, how do I
configure the Bios setup,
when it's at home?
Rodney Russell

The PC's Bios (short for Basic
Input/Output System) is normally
accessed by pressing a key (Del or F1
are common ones) when the PC first starts

Hi hi DduAiiCFid SecurliLi I'uui

Boot

Rnm«.»li 1 c Duil era
IUH Si Jut-

KetuM-k tx»l rrou flflD rwrTOTon

lift* SpHEiric Ifclp

Keys u-jed tti uieM m
ciin figure devices:
<Enter> expands ar
■:ull*|ra<9> deolcea ulth

<Clrl<Eiitsr> expands

<3tilft • 1> ctuhlt-j or
dtstbles j device.
<*> ,iihl <-> naves the
Aim ine up or dnuii ,
<i>> Hsu, noue ramiiible
deu ice hfttuecn IIji A
IM it or feuiNable Disk
<d> Rehovb * device
tlut 1 3 not iirjUtk'd.

and before the operating system starts
loading. You should see a message to this
effect - 'Press <keyname> to enter setup'
is one such example. Pressing this key takes
you into the Bios setup
menu, where you can
change various parameters
such as the boot-up
sequence - it's usually in a
section called 'Boot priority'
or similar. Be careful about
making changes here, if
you're not familiar with the
terms It's hard to give
specific instructions as every
manufacturer offers different
options in the Bios menus.
Contact the vendor of your
PC, or, if it's self-built, look
for a manual for the
motherboard online.

Help
Exit

Select lieu
Select new

Select ► Sub-feni

Setup fcf*n Us
Siue and Exit

The Bios lets you change
various parameters

Bach time I make additions to the
Tronl end il means having to copy the
server-based version to each computer
- of which there are about 10.

My question is how to get Changes
1 make to the front end - in oilier
words, queries, forms, reports and
code modules -to be automatically
replicated to each desktop machine
when it logs onto the server.
Sarrk Poller

A The good news is this isn't
really a database problem, it's a
networking one. Put the 'front
end' copy of the Access database on
the server. Then you have two options.

hirst, you could write a network login
script that copies the file to the user's
machine every time they tog in. This
can he as simple as a batch lile thai
runs when each machine starts up and
connects to the network. For instance,
il the master copy is on drive H: and
users keep the application on drive C:
in a folder called My Applications, the-
baic h file con id, at its most basic, read:
Copy h:\AccessFrontEnd.mdb .
C:\MyApplications\Access.
Front End, mdb

l-oj extra points, you onikl write
litis so thai it checks for the version
number of the Access file and only
copies it when that has been updated.

r i . .,

W=HJ.'E-1

UHaTfe

■uuufc^fc ^fltfL^'*'

Utov U IMatfftflSfcla I
LotuWtift: ■ ital M f»! jr*»
Lmtftll « •» 'J UK

at yj>

ProShow

□ Stanr In iTtowt 1 Intro

The Photodex
letterbox In
Pros how Gold can
be removed easily

Alternatively, write a hatch file
on the server that distributes the file-
to 30 sub-folders on the server, each
of which is solely used by each user.
Of course, pulling the front-end
Access database on the server will
lead to increased network trallic.
Whether this is likely to be a
problem depends on local conditions,
such as staff working patterns,
bandwidth, and so on.

The advantage is that the files
which need updating now reside On
the server. Either way, the distribution
of the Access front end should be
much easier. PCW

LET US HELP YOU

All our experts welcome your
queries. Please respond to the
appropriate address below

Databases database@ocw.ccuA:
Digital imaging fr video

digitdiiriijgmgs'ixwco.ut!

Hardware haidwareSpcw.co.uk

linuxlinux®pcw.co.uk

Networks nelworks'S'pcw.co.uk

Pe if orma nee perldt iitanceiir'ptw.co.uk

Sound sound@pcw.co.uk

Sprea dshe ets s pteadsheetsd pcw.ro.uk

Visual programming visualiprw.co.uk

Web development WeMev@pcwco.tik

Windows wineptw.cti.uk

Wotd processing wptpcw.co.uk

•' www.pcw.co.uk

123

HANDS ON HARDWARE

Gordon Laing has beer a hardware
enthusiast since his first Sinclair ZX80 and
as a former editor of PCW and contributor
for over 10 years, what he doesn't know
about technology isn't worth knowing.

-> Comments welcome on the
Hardware column.

Email hardware@pcw.co.uk
Please do not send unsolicited
file attachments.

Which Raid is right for you?

Testing the different Raid configurations can pay performance dividends

Raid has long been exploited
by servers and workstations
to deliver superior disk
perlormancc, whether in
terms of speed, reliability or a
combination of the two, PC enthusiasts
have also found Raid a valuable ally.
But With a variety of flavours to
choose from, not to mem ion
configuration options, it's often bard to
know whether you're getting the best
from yotir hardware. Standard
heiiLhniarks may not provide an
accurate reflection of typical usage.

So this month's column revisits the
eternally popular subject ol Raid,
explaining the different options and
configurations and, crucially, testing
them with both pure benchmarks and
a popular real-lile application.

Test system

To put different Raid configurations to
the lest I used a PC based on an tritel
Core 2 Duo E6700 with 4GB of Ram
fitted into an Asus P5W DH Deluxe
motherboard. This booted Vista from a
400GB Seagate hard disk connected to
the motherboard's main controller and
used a Promise Supertrak RX8350
controller (www.protnise.tom) to host a
separate Raid array; this card has since
been superseded by the EX8650,
which costs a not inconsiderable £250,
but for decent hardware-accelerated
Raid 5 performance, it's the way to go.

For the various arrays 1 used
identical Samsung HD501J 500GB disks.
As explained in the box on the next
page, three disks can offer ITB of
storage in a Raid 5 array, or 1.5TB in
Raid (I. Or you eoldd go lor Raid 1 -
dispensing with one disk as it works
with paired disks - For 500GB of storage.

Like most Raid controllers, the
FX8350 lets you not only choose the
Raid level, but also the stripe size. This
refers to the amount of data written to
each disk in mm. The FX8350 oilers a

Dedicated Raid choice of 32, 64 or 128KB, with 64KB

controllers such the default. If the data being written is

as this Promise below the stripe size, it will exist on

Supertrak EX8350, only one disk, losing the performance

or Its successor the benelils of being accessed from
EX3S50, offer multiple disks simultaneously.

hardware- M\ important lo consider the kin. I

accelerated Raid 5 ol data you're working with before

for superior selecting a stripe size, as you can't

performance usually change the stripe setting

without losing yourdata and building
a new array.

The stripe size is different from [de-
allocation unit size defined by a fife
system like Niks. Aslarastbe l'< is
concerned, a Raid array is exactly the
HD Tach's report on same as a single bard disk: it's jnsl raw
a single 500GB storage waiting lo be partitioned and

hard disk lorn tatted. So the stripe size only has

connected directly an impact at the actual hardware level
to a motherboard's itself, where the controller decides
controller which disks the data will be written to,

SCREEN 1

r*T"->

H I "'■"•*='■

| i~~~*-:

^^^^^H i

•

■ **V»»-,~< "=*-

+*-•<*.

Lit,.

^*-*. 4>*I L

It do£Sll*t affect data efficiency, where
a small file could find itself wasting
potential space by occupying a larger
allocated mill size.

To test different stripe sizes, not to
mention ihedilferenl sector sizCSalSO
offered by the FX8350, 1 used the
standard HD Tarh benchmark from
SimpH Software ( www.stm pNsof tware.tom ) .
I also timed how long it took to render
a tO-mimite AVI file in Adobe-
Premiere Pro consisting of up to five
overlaid video tracks in DV format.

The unedited video files and the
final rendered edit would be stored on
the Raid array to test both its read and
write performance in a real-lile
environment. Such real-world tests are
crucial as a pure benchmark may not
provide an accurate account ol how
you'll actually use the hardware.

The results

For comparison I started by lestingjust
one of the 500GB disks connected
directly to the motherboard's controller.
HDTach gave average read and write
speeds of 58.8 and 63.8Mbytes/set
respectively and a burst rale or
227.5Mhytesysec; the Prerniere render
look 1 95 seconds (see screen 1).

1 then connected two of the 500GB
disks as a Raid 1 array (giving a 500GB
total capacity) using a 64KB stripe size
ami 5 1 2KB Sector size. HD Tach gave
average read and write speeds of 66.7
and 34. JMbytes^sec respectively and a
burst rale ol 140.8Mhytes/sec, while
the Premiere render took 181 seconds.
So while HD Tach reported slightly
faster read and much slower write
speeds, the final Premiere job was Still
quicker overall.

Next, the two disks were set up as a
Raid array ( 1TB total capacity), again
using the default 64KB and 512KB
stripe and sector sizes. This time HD
Tach reported average read and write
speeds of 1 10.8 and l /7.2Mbytes/sec

24 www.pcw.co.uk Man

MORE HANDS ON HARDWARE Go to
www.pcw.co.uk/tags/hardware

HARDWARE HANDS ON

How Raid works

Raid stands for Redundant Array of
Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks,
and exploits two or more disks to
enhance performance, reliability or a
combination of the two. There arc
several different types of Raid; here
we'll cover the three most common.

Raid stripes data, interleaving it
across two or more disks. Since
interieaved disks can be read and
written to simultaneously, this can
can greatly boost performance. Raid
also allows you to enjoy the full
capacity of all the disks in the array,
so an array of three 500G8 disks
would offer 1 ,500GB of capacity

But Raid has no fault tolerance:
if one disk fails, you lose everything
This makes it less reliable than a
single disk, and only suitable for
non-critical data storage, such as a
scratch disk or virtual memory.

Raid 1 mirrors data, storing an
identical copy of it on a second disk
Should one disk fail, you can still
access the data on the other,
allowing you time to fit a
replacement, rebuild the array and
enjoy full fault tolerance again. The
downside is that you lose half your
total disk capacity to mirroring, so
two 500GB disks would give you
only 500GB of total capacity.

Raid 5 employs three or more
disks and stripes data across them.
The clever part is that parity data is
also stored on each disk, which gives
fault tolerance. Should one disk fail,
the data on the array remains
available. As with Raid 1, you can
simply fit a replacement disk and
rebuild the array to enjoy full fault
tolerance once more.

As with Raid 1 , there's a capacity
price to pay, but you only lose one
disk's worth of capacity in the entire
array with Raid 5.

The overall losses decrease as
you fit more disks. So if you have
three disks in a Raid 5 array, you
lose 33 per cent: in a three 500GB
disk array, you would have 1 ,000GB
of storage. Configure four disks with
Raid 5, though, and you'll only lose
25 per cent: if they were 500GB
disks, you'd have 1,500GB of
storage in total.

The downside to Raid 5 is a
potential hit on write performance
due to the parity calculations.
Common software -based Raid 5
configurations can be very slow on
write times, although controllers
with hard ware- accelerated Raid 5
(which are rarely cheap) can hugely
improve write performance

respectively and a 1 96, 7 Mbytes/ sec
burst rale, while the Premiere render
took 168 seconds. Both MD Tach scores
were clearly much faster, which is
reflected in the quicker render.

[ then connected a third disk and
built a new Raid array ( 1 .5TB total
capacity), again with the defaults. HD
Tach reported average read and write
speeds of I 10.9 and 9 1. 9 Mbytes/sec
respectively and a burst rate ol
246. 8 Mbytes/ sec (see screen 21, while
the Premiere render took 1 56 seconds.
The average read score may have been
much the same and the write a little
slower, but perhaps in Hue need by the
much faster burst rate, the render was
the quickest yet.

I then switched to Raid 5 using the
three disks (ITU total capacity), but
also reduced the stripe size to J2K33.
HD Tach gave average read and w rite-
speeds of 66.6 and 69.2Mbytes/sec
respectively and a l96.2Mbyt.es/sec
burst rate, while the Premiere render
took 240 seconds. (ID Tach's figures
may have been a little quicker than lor

*H:H=Kfcl

^^^^^^^^H 'si!<*Hl

^^ | HM Hit

« Hk»t«-

liUi'th^.

The same three
disks reconfigured
as a Raid 5 array
using the Promise
controller. The
average read and
write speeds have
fallen, but It's still
faster than the
single disk while
also boasting
redundancy

■mridJJN

W*WSw^^

mm*

the single disk, but the Premiere HD Tach's report on

render was the slowest yet. three 500GB hard

In the next test 1 increased stripe disks configured as

size to the defau It 64KB. 110 Tach a Raid array

reported average lead anil write speeds using the Promise

i if 72 a n d 80 , 9 M by t es / se c re sp ect i vel y con t rol I er. Th e

and a burst rale of 239.6Mbyics/scc average read and

[see screen 3), while the Premiere write speeds have

render took 2 1 8 seconds — a big I ncreased. but

improvement I" all [he senres, just by there's no fault

adjusting the stripe size. Next, the tolerance
biggest stripe size of 128KB saw HO

Tach report average read and write
speeds o I 68.2 arid 8 1.7 Mbytes/ sec
respectively and a burst rate of
2 3 8. 2.M bytes /sec, while the Premiere
render look 2 1 seconds. A slight
adjustment across the HD Tach results,
but again a quicker render, if not as
quick as the original single disk.

I then repeated the Raid 5 tests
using the three different stripe sizes at
each ol the controller's sector options
of 1,024, 2,048 and 4,096KB; the
setting used above was the default
512KB. The average read and write
times remained pretty similar, although
larger sectors improved the burst rates.
The Premiere renders were within a
few seconds of the default scores,
though, so nothing lo get loo excited
about for this particular application.

Big variations

The results prove there are significant
differences in the performance of each
Raid level, and subtler, bill measurable
differences between stripe sizes.
Revealingly, though, the scores
measured by a pure benchmark such
as III) Tach may not be proportionately
or even accurately reflected in a real-
life environment.

Our Premiere render pushed
sustained throughput for read and
wrile on larger files, but a database,
web server or game would make
different demands. So perform your
own tests using a controller's different
settings with your desired application
and data belore committing long term
to a specific conliguration. For video
rendering. Raid wilh medium to
large stripe sizes remains hard to beat
for speed, bin remember lo copy
finished projects onto another disk
afterwards to protect against Raid 0's
lack oi hi nil tolerance.

If you hnd Raid invaluable tor a
certain application, we'd like to hear
more about it and, in particular, any
sellings you found beneficial. PCW

1 www.pcw.co.uk 12!

HANDS ON > PERFORMANCE

MORE HANDS ON PERFORMANCE Go to
www. pcw.co.uk/tags/hardware_performaftce

Gordon Laing has beer a hardware
enthusiast since his first Sinclair ZX80 and
as a former editor of PCW and contributor
for over 10 years, what he doesn't know
about technology isn't worth knowing.

H> Comments welcome on the
Performance column.
Email performanceS'pcw.co uk
Please do not send unsolicited
file attachments.

Capturing HDMI video

The search is over foir a simple yet flexible device for video enthusiasts

At some point, every
hardware enthusiast will
encounter an issue and
wonder if there's a
device, adapter or cable that will
lit the bill. Maybe it's lor a
weather station, a media PC
enhancement, robotic control, or
simply connecting an old piece of
kit to a new system.

What normally follows is a trawl
around specialist suppliers, or a search
for like-minded individuals on forums.
Sometimes the search proves fruitless;
other times a solution is weighed down
by caveats that effectively render it
unusable. Occasionally, though, you'll
strike gold with a product that not only
lulfils your requirements, but goes way
beyond - that's why this mouth's
column is devoted to one of the neatest
peripherals I've tested in recent limes.

HDMI capture

My search began with a desire to
Capture video from an HDMI source -
not protected movies from a Bin -ray
player, but for grabbing video and live
menu graphics from a new breed of
digital cameras tor reviews and video
demonstrations. A search for HDMI
capture cards brought me to the
Intensity from Blackmagic Design
($249, www.blackmagic-design.tomi.
Intensity is a short PCI Hxpress card
that requires a single-lane slot, but also
works in x4, x8 and x!6 lane slots. It
lea lures a pair ol HDMI pons that can
be used for capturing video from one
HDMI source while outputling a signal
to an HDMI display.

Intensity can capture unprotected
HDMI content at tbe ftdl l,920x 1,080
resolution under Windows PCs using
either a Motion JPEG or
uncompressed recording format, along
with grabbing still Irames i I desired. At
this point, my initial requirement was
fulfilled. Intensity could grab HD

menus and graphics from
cameras such as the Nikon D90
over its HDMI port -hut the card
offered a few additional possibilities.

While HDMI has become the
standard interface for connecting
domestic IID components, you may
think tile ability to capture it on your
PC would have limited use - especially
as protected content is ruled out. HD
camcorders playing your own content
are a possibility, but most people use
"Pirewire or USB ports for getting such
iootage onto their computers.

Capturing over HDMI does have a
neat advantage, though. Video
enthusiasts will know that while most
modern fIDV camcorders leature
sensors with 1 ,920x 1 .0S0 resolution,
the HDV format itself squashes it into
a lowct resolution 1,440* 1,080
frame to save space. Footage that has
already been recorded to tape will be
fixed at this resolution whether yon
capture over Ft rewire or HDMI.

But most HDV camcorders output a
live signal over their HDMI ports at the
lull 1,920x1,080 resolution, and cards
mii h as the Intensity tan capture it,
giving you 3 5 per cent greater
horizontal resolution. Obviously, it's
not practical to lug a PC around tin
holiday just to capture the full
resolution from a tethered HDV
camcorder, but there arc many studio-
based applications that can exploit it.

In practice, this really works, t tried
it vvitli a Canon HVM1 and found thai
live video captured over HDMI had a

The Intensity Pro
card allows you to
capture footage
from an

unprotected HDMI
source and could
deliver superior
quality from your
HD camcorder than
a traditional
Firewire link

quality advantage over recorded HDV
Iootage. Von will need to switch the
HV30's TV screen option to 'off and
toggle the display button to eliminate
^ the on-screen icons, though.

Intensity will also capture a wider
colour gamut with 4:2:2 sampling, and
you can record the signal with milder
compression than HDV, or even none
at all. While both will obviously
consume more storage than heavily
compressed formats, you'll save
processing time when editing.

Since DVI shares the same video
specification as HDMI, there's also the
possibility of capturing a PC's desktop
image with an adapter. This isn't
guaranteed to work, but if you set
your desktop resolution to a typical
HD mode, such as 1,920x1.080 or
1,280x720 at 60Hz, the Intensity
stands a good chance of capturing it.
video editors will aJso appreciate the
ability to preview projects over HDMI.
to a TV set rather than a PC monitor.

A few caveats

There are, of course, a number of
things to watch out lor. Pirst, you'll
need plenty ol fast storage at your
disposal. The mildly compressed 1,080
capture mode consumes about
12Mbyies/sec, while the uncompressed
version gobbles 1 1 9Mbytes/sec. In
contrast, HDV nibbles away at
3. l25Mbytes/sec. You'll also only
exploit the maximum quality if you're
capturing the live output from a device
Over a Tethered HDMI connection;
again there are still speed beuelits
when editing less compressed footage.

The Intensity card is a llexiblc
product with some neat features for
video enthusiasts, and the Pro version
will additionally capture analogue
video from composite, S-video and
component sources, again in standard
or high definition, along with the
Option to up- or down-scale. PCW

www.pcw.co.uk Man

lildren / PhotoVoii

PhotoVoice: working with positive negatives

"Photo Voice is working to bring new voices to photojournalism:
hear the world through their eyes." Sebastiao Salgado

PhotoVoice is a multi-award- winning charity that brings about positive social change for
marginalised and minority communities by providing photographic training with which
participants can advocate, express themselves and generate income.

The PhotoVoice Manual

This ground-breaking manual is

the only guide of its kind in the

world for the design and delivery

of participatory photography projects with marginalised and vulnerable groups.

Produced in response to huge demand, this spiral bound manual includes a DVD

showcasing slideshows and digital stories from PhotoVoice projects.

To order the manual, or to find out more about PhotoVoice visit www.photovoice.org

Registered Charity No. 1096598

PhotoVoice |>

www.photovoice.org

HANDS ON > WINDOWS

Ttm Nott is a full-time freelance
journalist. When he's not writing about
Windows and word processing, he tackles
man/ other diverse subjects. He currently
lives in France with his wife and family.

-> Comments welcome on the
Windows column.

Email windows® pew. co uk
PJcase do not send unsolicited
file attachments.

Greedy Intellipoint

The perils of Microsoft's memory-hungry mouse software

One of the startup items
on my XP computer is
fpoint.exe. This is the
lulcllipoinl software thai
remembers custom button settings for
Microsoft mice; both general settings
and lliose for individual programs. It
also seems to be responsible for
popping up a warning when llie
batteries in a cordless mouse are low.
And if 1 start my PC and then, when
everything has loaded, press Control &
Alt & Del, I can see the process in the
Task Manager, taking up a massive
23MIS of memory. That's about the
same as Word running or, to give
another perspective, 1 times the
amount of Ram 1 had in my first
Windows 3 PC. Killing the process
loses any custom button assignments,
but apart from that the mouse works
normally. Running [point again
restarts the process using a similar
memory footprint.

After a web search 1 found more
problems with [point.exe. Several
users complained of memory leaks
when using the Windows magnifier.
In other words, lpoint.exe consumed
more and more memory but didn't
release it. There's a You tube video of
this ascending into the f70M8 range.
Others complain of the program
causing flicker in applications. The
word in the forums is that the latest
version cures the flicker problem, so
off I went to download it. Lo and
behold, the new version (6.30.192.0]
weighed in at 2SMR of memory, and
by judicious use of the magnifier, 1
managed to get this up to 3 1MB. And
then suddenly, when of course I
wasn'l looking, the memory used by
lpoint.exe dropped to a reasonable
3-4M6. And after restarting Windows
XP? Yes, back to 28MB.

Further painstaking scientific
observation - also known as an
afternoon wasted -showed Ipoinl.exe

would settle down to anywhere
between 300KB and 4MB, hut leapt up
into the 20MB range wtien the Instant
Viewer- a sort of poor man's Flip 3D
which shows previews oi .ill open
windows on the desktop -was invoked.
This may be because it has to paint
bitmaps ol the v\ indow images, and it
did settle down lo a more reasonable-
level altera short delay (see screen 1 ).
So, in fairness, it does seem Microsoft
ha 5 managed to get lpoint.exe to give
back memory, but why it needs so
much to start is still a mystery.

9te &on gew S\itPwn mr

Ipoint curbs its
memory appetite

SCREEN 1

tetrftrtl^ Ikn

VtwWmm

HmUuo*

tafti

Tin
. i SUM

•-•

'tr-,i-t

j <*-.,

TOTEH

ETSiEH 00

i*TWOW. SERflCE »
5Y5T&1 »

MM* NermsJ

P.U4H Hcrrnd

■1, IM *. rtmd

3,»in HflThd

1,224 K ttrmri

3.N41C rim-rd

Wt. Hernial

4,mar Ticrnal

ST— :

Ml »

You can add
permissions to the
System Volume
Information folder

Restore points

The System Restore feature of
Windows was one of the better
features introduced in the Millennium
Edition, and continues through XP and
Vista. As yon probably know, it lets
you 'roll back' Registry and System
files to a previous state, and is
invaluable when your PC starts
misbehaving. As well as Windows
creating regular restore points
automatically, you can create these
on demand horn All Programs,
Accessories. System Tools, System
Restore. If you plan to edit die Registry
or make system changes, then creating
a restore point first is essential.

One mystery, however, is where
Windows stores these restore points.
The short answer is [hat you don'l
really need to know. But since you're
reading lire Hands On section lit PC W,
your curiosity will probably make you
want to know. So, here's the answer lo
the mystery. First, in XP Pro you need
to go to Polder Opiions, View and
make sure ihal "Show hidden files and
folders' is selected and that 'Hide
protected operating system tiles
(recommended)' is unchecked-
Having done this, you should see
in each disk partition a fofder named
System Volume information. This is
where the restore points are stored,
but you still won't be able to open ilie
folder without some further
manipulations - you'll just get an
'Access is denied' message. So the
next step is to right-dick on the folder,
seieel Properties and turn 10 the
Security tab. ff you don't see a security
lab, [hen Jose die Properties, go back
to Folder Options, View, and clear the
checkbox next to 'Use simple file
sharing' - it should be the lasi item in
the list, OK out of Polder Options, then
close and re-open Explorer. You
should lind that lolders- including
System Volume Information - now

128

www.pcw.co.uk

MORE HANDS ON WINDOWS Go to
www.pcw.co.uk/tags/windows

WINDOWS HANDS ON

have a Security tab (see screen 2).
Turn to this and click on the Add
button, then type your username in
tlie box provided and click OK. This
will take you back to the Security tab
with your name added. Since this is
Just an exercise in curiosity, stick with
the default permission settings for
Read and Execute. LisL, and Read.

OK out of the properties, and you'll
find you can open the System Volume
Inlormaiion folder. Yon have to be
logged on with an administrator
account to change (or even see] the
contents of the Security tab, but
curiously you can add a non-
administrator user to the iist of those
entitled to open the folder. Finally, if
you had Simple f : ile Sharing enabled
before, you can return to Folder
Options and turn il back on. You'll still
he ahle to open the System Volume
Information folder but you won'l be
able to change the permissions unless
you temporarily turn it oil again (see
screen 2).

Feedback frenzy

It has been a record mouth for reader
feedback, and we're pleased to be able
to include four excellent tips relating
to issues aired in this column during
the past few months, ranging from
icon selection to creating multiple
sub- folders. Please keep them coming
- especially if you read something in
this column that you think is just plain
wrong. That way, not only can we
learn from our mistakes but we can
also pass the corrections on.

Rope and throw and brand 'em

Further to Jason Murray's problem
with deleting desktop icons (PCW
Christmas 2008, Question Time),
David March reminds us of a useful
tip. You Can lasso' a collection of icons
by left -clicking and dragging around
them. The collection stays highlighted
and can be deleted by pressing the
Delete key. Several 'islands' of icons
can be selected by holding down the
Ctrl key while dragging around
subsequent sets.

Above: Showing
the contents of
System Volume
Information

Right: Another
solution to the
Outlook printing

problem

ESI

B* IB» 1- » IP* W« !

•:bft Al lbn<

fjtom

Djtt

Ireoort net Export , ,

Atdn«*

_# Pint mo> ) <*». .ui«i rreraegr)

KFI*

c&ki

cture*

SCREEN 5

You can create resind copes of one ot nw«
the current folder.

selected pictures and store them' n

Sefcttaace'

Smal (fitiaMO x «C wnm)

MKfcjm {fits a 300 * 6QQ ser ht )

targe (fits a 1024 % 76d saeer)

Handheld PC (fits a 2«» 320 Kjeen)

* Custom (fts a : 1200 by I 13Z4

sneen)

Hafce pctu « fmaler bur not larocf

fiesrre the ononal pictures (don't create copes)

«Bhk

1 -

Cmai

Resizing pictures
with the XP
Powertoy

Using FOR to make
directories

Yet more Outlook

In September 2008. we mentioned the
inability ol Outlook to print a single
page of a message, or curtail the
previous quoted messages. Over The
ensuing mouths we've had many
workarounds hum readers, and it
seems many people (with the obvious
exception ol Microsoft) are concerned
about this The latest offering comes
from Mike Vaughan fid wards, and is
an Outlook add-in called PrinlPagel.
This adds a toolbar and a file menu
item to Outlook that prints just the
current message, discarding the history
ot quoted messages. It's tree lor the
first 20 prints and alter that a licence

will cost £1, which should quickly pay
for itself in consumables. You'll find it
at www.p1intpa9el.com (see screen 4).

Resizing pictures

Further to the Christmas issue's
comments on resizing pictures tor
emails, Peter Atkinson points out that
there is a Microsoft Powertoy that adds
a "Resize' option to the right- click
menu. As well as offering to make-
copies of images in s17.es ranging from
240x320 to 1,028x768, it lets you
choose a custom size and has an
option to replace the originals rather
than create copies. You'll find it at
www.tinyurl.com/S53fw6 (see screen 5). It
only works with Windows XI 1 , but the
email trick works with Vista - you don't
have to scud a message, just right-click
on the resized attachment and 'Save
As..' then cancel the message.

MKDIR - it can be done

In January's column we looked at
creating multiple sub-folders using
MKDIR Irom a command prompt. I
stated that you can't direct MKDIR to
take input Irom a hie. Not so, said
Simon Smillie and Richard Gaze, The
FORDO command lets you pass the
contents of a text tile to almost any
other command. So, first creare a text
file containing the names of the
folders, each on a separate line. Save
this in the lolder in which you want to
create the sub-folders I this will save
you the trouble of having to type out
the entire path) as Folders. txt. Next,
open a command prompt in thai
folder, and type:

FOR /F %n IN {folders. txt) u
00 MKDIR %n

ftit:y e Code KtZJng Continues)

You can use any single letter
instead of n, and the command will
take each fine of the file and DO a
MKDIR with the name it finds, A
variant is to use:
FOR IT "tokens=*" %n IN
(folders. txt) DO MKDIR %n

Hi is version will process items on
the same line, separated by spaces. If
you want to create folders with a space
in the name, then use the second
method and enclose ihe name in
double quotes. So, for example, a text
file containing the line
"January February" March
April May

will produce four folders when led to
the POR command* the first being
named "January February" and the
others taking the name of the
following months (see screen 6). PCW

www.pcw.co.uk 129

*K»losi! ""™"*"X>Jl

? Acronis 1

I Truelma
2009

BACK UP YOUR PC

Avoid the stress and cost
of Computer failure

<i2^>,

your PC is fully protected from unforeseen events

Protect your PC

lr Create an exact copy of your PC for a full backup of your system

\r Choose to backup only your Important data and application settings
such as emails, music and photos

Ir Easily recover what you need - your entire system, an important file,
or your application settings

V Store your backups where you want to - including FTP, hard disk
drives, CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW

\r Test new software, browse the internet or download files safely with
the improved "Try and Decide System"

V Acronis Secure Zone saves your data to a special hidden partition on
your hard disk

New edition
tor 2009

System Requirements: Windows® Vista; Windows® XP Professional
xM EffHicw Windows® XP SP 2, Pentium processor orhigrier 256 MB
RAM .CD- R 1 /, 1 drive for bootable media creation. Supported Hardware:
Internal and external hanJ disks, Networked storage devices , CD-R(W),
DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-R |Bltl-rau, NEW!}, ZIP® Jan® and
other removable media . P-ATA (IDE), S-ATA, SCSI, IEEE1394 (Firewire) ai
USB 1.0 / 2.0 drives, PC card storage devices. Supported file systems:
FAT1602, NTFS, Unux Ext2, Ext3, Reiseif S, and Unity. SWAP Special
sedor-by-sectof support lor unknown and corrupted tile systems

Latest Edition! Includes these great NEW FEATURES:

lr Includes FREE Acronis Drive Cleanser worth £39.95 - wipe all
your data when you replace your hard drive - or use the file
shredder to destroy individual files

tr Backup your PC with just One-Click

}/ Find individual files easily with the full text search facility

K Automatically shuts down your PC once your backup is complete

V Set & Forget feature performs backups automatically

t easy ways to order

www.direct-pcw.co.uk

J1 858 438883

ff YES. I would like to buy

(Filter quantity ri&quiredji

.J Acronis True 1 CO/ |A*_

Image Home 2009 °* AU.
£29.35

p R0DU CT$

+ £1.99 pSp per item

TOTAL

l-^l Complete and post this form to: Personal

Computer World Direct, Tower House. Sovereign
Park, Market Harborough, Leicester, LE16 9EF

I Please allow 7-10 '.working days for delivery.

Your Details (Black capitals)
htlc Initials

T^leohnriti Nri

Subs No

fil known)

P ay ment Options (Flcaso ndral c yr; :i' an-lcrtccl ™i hod nl aiyme.nl) ft^lK *£ StaB*

IJ Chfjquti Fneiosed for C IMade payable to VNU Busiiess Publications Ltd)

L^J Pkvisc Charge E to mv r

Visa _J MasrerCard Q Annex !^ riel::; .J SwitctvVaestro Q Issue Ma.

CardltO-Q

ID DC

VaMBomlZC/nn

ODD DODD DDE
Bg*([)*CD/GD

Daie-

Sianature(s)

Personal Computar Wdrfc and Personal computer World Direct are published by VMLJ Busmen Publceltons, part of the
Incisive Mec-3 Group, u Tick oox to recoil infcrmaibn auoul product s and services from the Incisive Media Group by email
U Tick box to teceK/e mtoima;con about products and services from selected companies by email. II Tick box ll you do not
warn to receive kitormaibn aooul produci s and servceo from tt>e Incswe Media Group by post/inleprione, 3 Tick l)ox if you
co no: wai'i to rsceve ■noim-i: on aboul products arid services from selected companies by post/telephone.

(CODE PC 13)

All you need to know about this month's software

MARCH 2009

ON THE CD

Acronis True Image 10 Personal Web root
Window Washer 6.5 Ashampoo Burning
Studio 2009 lolo Antivirus Paragon Drive
Backup 9 SE

ON THE 8GB DVD

Acronis True Image 10 Personal Webroot
Window Washer 6.5 Ashampoo Burning
Studio 2009 lolo Antivirus Paragon Drive
Backup 9 SE Paragon Drive Copy 9 SE

Let our
workshops on
the following
pages show
you how to
use some of
the software
on the CD
and DVD

9 FREE PROGRAMS WORTH £141

PLUS 168 SUPERB FREE TOOLS & UTILITIES!

AIL VISUCOAAPATIBLE

Atroiis Tree Image 10
Personal 1

PowpflLiil but umpfc did protection

Webroot

Window Washer 6.5

rhe eaiy way lo ensure K privity

Ashampoo

Burning Studio 2009'

Superb CD/DYOdala burning toolkit

Paragon Drive Copy 9
Personal SI

Easily move your files lo i new PC
lolo AnbVirUi\-«i»'» uuki

Paragon Drive Backup 9 Ptt
LINUX & OPEN SOURCE

Entail 10 • Piimi Mjg. II i SUX *.t 1
• USfti «nme or pnonf rctwmi

HELP LINES

WEB:

www.pcw.co.uk/disc-support

EMAIL:

disc-support @pcw.co.uk

PHONE: 020 7316 9706

{TOam to 6pm Mon-Fri)

Note thai we lannol give support
(or programs on the disc

www.pcw.co.uk 131

COVER DISC

SOFTWARE LISTING

ON THE CD

Vuze 4.0.0.4

13 TRIAL SOFTWARE

S LINUX U OPEN SOURCE

5 FULL VERSIONS

Win SCP 4.1,8

Acronis True Image 2009

Fedora 10

Acronis True Image 10 Personal

Cyber link Power Director 7

QParted Live CD 0.3,9-13

Webroot Window Washer 6.5

12 FROM THE MAGAilME

Diskeeper 2009 Home

Parted Magic 3.3

As ham poo Burning Studio 2009

Actives Undelete - Data Recovery v7

East-Tec Backup 2009

Puppy Linus 4.1.2

lolo Antivirus

Comedo Backup 1.0.4

East-Tec Eraser 2009

SLAX 6.0.9

Paragon Drive Backup 9

Disklnternals Mail Recovery

Kaspersky Antivirus 2009

Tiny Me 2008.1

Glary Undelete 1.0

Kaspersky Internet Security 2009

28 FREEWARE
7-Zip 4.62
Abiword 2,6.5

iDrive Online Backup Classic 3.2.1

Norton Antivirus 2009

RESOURCES

ISO Buster 2.4.0.1

Nova PDF 6

(OVER 160 APRS, 12 CATEGORIES)

Microsoft Image Resizer

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2009

Audio, Video & Photo

Adobe Media Player 1.6
Amazon MP3 Music Downloadet

PC Inspector File Recovery 4
Self Image 1,21

Professional
System Mechanic 8.5

Backup, Restoration & File Management
Browsers, Managers & Extensions

Auslogks Registry Detrag 5.0.17 435
Driver Backup 2.0

Softperfect File Recover 1.2
Ultimate Boot CD 3.22
Zemail 2.1

VMware Workstation 6.5.1
Webroot Internet Security Essentials

Burning & Media

Business, Office & Collaboration

Chat & Communication

Easeus Disk Copy 2.3
Easeus Partition Manager 3.0

ON THE 8GB 0V0

Developer & Web Development Tools

Flock 2.0.2

17 SHAREWARE

EVERYTHING ON THE

rjeneia] Utilities

Foxy tunes 3.0.5.1
Free CSS Toolbox 1,2

Active Desktop Calendar 7.67

CD PLUS...

Internet, Networking & Wifi Tools

Active Webcam 11.3

Optimisation & Diagnostics

Griffith 0.9.8

Airfoil for Windows 2.6.2

Paragon Drive Copy 9 SE

Portable Applications

ICQ 6.5

Axialis Icon Workshop 6.3,2

Security

JAlbum £.10

Beyond Compare 3.0.11

2 FREEWARE

Ken Rename 0.66

Day Mate 6.30

Antivir Rescue CD 11,2008

4 GAME DEMOS

Magix Mufin Music Finder 1.5

HTML Pad 2008 Pro v9.3

VMware Player 2.5.1

Cinema Tycoon

NSIS 2.41

Magic ISO S.S.273

Hotel Giant 2

Photology 2.0.117

Power Archive r 2009 v1 1.03

New Star Soccer 4

Pictomio 1.2.25

Rapid CSS 2008 v9.3

Ashampoo Photo Commander 7.1

Nikopof Secrets of the Immortals

Safari 3.2.1

Smart FTP 3.0.1024.32

Spamaware 5.1

Syncback SE 5.2.1.0

Speedfan 4.37
The Dude 3.0

Tbe Bat! v4.fj.38 Professional

Total Uninstall 5.0.2

Transmute 1.07

Vista Task 7.42

Trillian 3 1.12

Your Uninstaller 6.2

USBOeview v1,28

Zonealarm Forcef ield 1,2

THE UK'S BIGGEST & BEST SOFTWARE COLLECTION!

USING THE COVER DISC

The PCW cover disc uses a web browser-style interlace. To get
full functionality, you'll need to use Microsoft Internet Explorer
(version 5.5 or later). Unfortunately, Netscape doesn't properly
support lliib software. However, we have also provided links to
the featured programs, so you can still copy them to your hard
disk or install them manually (the standard download dialogue
box will appear). Programs can be found in the \software\
folder on the disc.

STARTING THE DISC

The CO -Rom (or OVn) should sum- start. If it fails lo do so,
double-click the CO-Rom/OVO icon in My Computer or open tbe
tenms.htm hie on the root of the disc.

PROBLEMS?

We cannot give support on programs on this disc. If you have
problems running the disc, follow these guidelines:

1 1 Ml PIHUMi •Ml* [HI
fin i u sunn i m i Mts t iiifltv

PROBLEMS INSTALLING/RUNNING THE SOFTWARE

Check the support page on the disc or check tbe
manufacturer's site.

GENERAL DIFFICULTIES

Tor details on cover disc support and frequently asked
questions ahout the discs go to www.pcw.co.uk/
disc-support For faulty or damaged CDs/DVDs please
email disc support.spcw.co.uk for a replacement, giving the
details requested on the webs tie. H you have no internet
access, call 020 7316 9706 between 10am and 6pm
Monday to Friday. Please note lhal PCVV cannot give
technical help/support.

General licence restrictions, March 2009

I hese prodtftts are licensed for personal us* on only one PC at a rime, tail may not rent or lea se or resel I products
[entailed on this DVD or use litem fnl public peffniHianci?. Neither the supplier nai the puWKIwr will arte pi
msponubilily for any loswi ar damage mulling fram use uf Ihis software, including any \a\\ of proh'1, damage Id
equipment, interruption of business or data or any other damage direct 01 accidental.

It is rerom mended that you hark up any programs and data on yeiwr tiatd dii.lt before iEKtatlmg Ibis, software.
PLEASE READ INSTALLATION AND SYSTEM REQUIRED NT INSTRUCTIONS (AREF LI LI? BEFORE USING.

The p u bl ishe i, I iil i she Me did, has Checked this DVD -Runt la r known vii usev at all StaysS dI production bul
you are advised to chetk all programs and discs messed on your PC yourself before
using them, with an up-to-date vnus scanner.

No pai t of thi s OVQ-Rom may be reptodu ced withou t pik>r permission of Incruve Mec&a. rw inaswefnedi

132

www.pcw.co.uk

COVER DISC

INFORMATION

System requirements Window? 2000
Professional SP4/XP/SP2 (32-bit/64-bit)/Vista
(32/64- bit); 20MB hard disk space
Contact www.acronisco.uk
Registration Obtain your free registration key
at www.acronis.co.uk/mag/ati1 Ope

Acronis True Image 10 Personal

Protect your PC from hard disk disasters with this tool

If you're looking for the quickest possible
PC backup then opt for a file-based tool. Tell
it to back up the contents of your desktop,
the documents, music and pictures folders, and
the whole process will probably be complete
within a few minutes

There's a reason why this kind of backup is
so quick, of course. It doesn't save all the
information you need - the emails, contacts,
favourites, browser add-ons, fonts, drivers,
application settings, usernames, passwords
and everything else that makes your PC the
system it is today. If your hard disk ever did
crash, then you might spend weeks trying to
get everything back in working order.

Use Acronis True Image 10 Personal as your
backup tool and it's a very different story The

program creates an image of your system
partition (or any other you specify), then copies
it to a second drive. This is much easier to use,
as there's no need to create complex filters or
specify the files and folders you'd like to back
up And if your hard disk gets corrupted later,
then recovery is very straightforward. Just
boot from the rescue disc, point it at the backup
and you'll be up and running just as fast as the
data can be transferred

Acronis True Image 10 Personal backups are
even more convenient when you only need to
restore individual files or folders. Click Tools >
Explore Backup Archive, select your latest
backup, and you'll see its contents in an Explorer
window. Find the files you need and restoring
them is easy as a quick drag and drop.

Keep your data safe with regular image backups

(JJ^^^UM^H

O— it ■ !•*■■ ^»- *mm\ **
mm mm run i imivm

. im. n« . m ->— . « .,-*** iM H T-"" — - (HH

llM^JMMli

•irrm PWtWU

' ■-ii-.ihj

jui

#5^!^^

m*yS

ll.MHUM'II

■ PA1^1|UI>M

f nl HhHjli|H

lh«««(<iiiV

(fJfcMvtMfetftfl

«MW*ftMM*

«*•**!***•«*

ImriAltMHrt

Jti nil nil ta

#&*

i ■»- a ■—.) . i~- 1

[3; | * £Jj ±1J ilj

I*—
I

.JdJ^J

Sj]§^*l

Launch Acronis True Image 10 Personal, click
Backup and tell the program which partition
you'd like to save. Point it at the disk where
you'll be saving the backup, then select "Set the
options manually" and set compression level to
Maximum to reduce the backup sire. Click Proceed
to launch the backup.

You won't be able to restore your system
partition (or the one with Acronis True Image
Personal 10 installed) from the Windows version,
but fortunately there's an easy solution. Click
Create Bootable Rescue Media and the program
will quickly create a bootable CD/ DVD to get your
system working again.

Restoring a complete backup will destroy your
most recent work, so it's best kept as a last
resort. If you only want to recover a few files then
click Explore and Validate Backup Archives > Explore
Backup Archive and choose your backup, you'll see
its contents in an Explorer window, and can copy
and paste them as usual.

UPGRADE OFFER

£10 OFF ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE HOME 2009 !

The Computer Superstore

NEW FEATURES

Exclude files and folders • Incremental/ H
differential backups > Easier backup scheduling •
Full text search* lip archive foimat supported •
Windows Vista -style interface

The very latest version of Acronis True Image Home speeds up trie backup process by
adding the ability to exclude particular files and folders, as well as supporting
incremental and differential backup types. Once set up you can leave the program to run
its backups automatically. And archives can now be indexed by Windows Search, making
it easy to find the file you need. You can get £10 off Acronis True Image 2009 from any
PC World store. This offer is valid from 20 January 2009 until 9 April 2009. This offer
cannot be used in conjunction with any other. Offer subject to availability. For more
details, take this page to your local PC World store and give them offer code - S50082,

•' www.pcw.co.uk

133

COVER DISC

I Webroot'

' Window Washer

INFORMATION

System requirements Windows 2000/XP
(32-bit)/ Vista (32-bit); 5MB hard disk space
Contact www. webroot co.uk
Registration Not required

Webroot Window Washer 6.5

There's no easier way to maintain your PC's privacy

Add a firewall, spam blocker and anti-
virus utility to a PC and you might think
your data is secure - but it may not be.
Anyone with physical access to your PC can still
learn a great about your activities just from
browsing your web history, the Windows recent
items list, and all the other document histories
maintained by just about every application you
own. Unless, that is. you've protected yourself
by installing a copy of Window Washer.

The program is easy to use. A couple of
clicks is all it takes to wipe every trace of your
activities in Windows, your browser and many
other applications. Too drastic? Then you can
fine tune its operation in many different ways. If
you want to keep your IE history, but delete its
temporary internet files and wipe all the cookies

apart from, say, Amazon's, then you can do
exactly that with a quick configuration tweak.
Set up the versatile Window Washer scheduler
and you can have your unwanted web details
wiped automatically at regular intervals.

Deleting application histories in this way isn't
for everyone, but Web Washer has another side
that can be even more useful, it's able to
securely overwrite the free space on your hard
drive, again in just a couple of clicks, making it
impossible for any intruder with an undelete tool
to recover files you've erased.

And if you're planning to sell your PC or hard
disk, then you really need the System Eraser. This
creates a bootable floppy or CD you can use to
wipe an entire hard drive, so the buyer won't be
able to view your personal information.

Clear all traces of your PC activities in a couple of clicks

- Window Washer can clear hundreds of different
history files and privacy-related Registry
settings, freeing up hard disk space and recovering
a little Ram. But are you sure it's configured the
way you'd like? Launch the program, click Wash
Setup and choose the Windows System Edit button
to begin finding out.

By default Window Washer will delete your
Windows temporary files - a good place to start
- but it can wipe much more. Will you ever make
use of the memory. dm p files created when your PC
has a blue screen crash, for instance? If not, then
check Memory Dump File, click Apply and you may
recover 100MB or more of disk space.

Explore the other Edit options until you're
positive Window Washer is set up to suit your
needs. Then delete your activity traces at any
time by clicking Wash My Computer Now. Or, for
an even easier life, click Options > Schedule and
set up the program to run automatically, just as
often as you'd like.

UPGRADE OFFER WEBROOT INTERNET SECURITY ESSENTIALS

NEW FEATURES

Two-way firewall
Anti-virus tool
Detect and remove spyware
Automatic local backup
2GB online backup space
Gamer mode

If you like Window Washer, then yoj might also be interested in Webroot Internet
Security Essentials. It's a powerful security suite that protects you from viruses, hackers
and data theft, and includes automatic online and local backup tools to keep your files
safe from harm. There's even a Gamer Mode to ensure you won't be hassled by pop-ups
or alerts while gaming or watching movies. There will be a special offer from Webroot,
where you can upgrade and save. See this offer and place your order at
www.webroot.co.uk/getofler

134

www.pcw.co.uk

COVER DISC

INFORMATION

System requirements Windows
2000/XP/Vista; 18MB hard disk space
Contact www.ashampoo.com
Registration Leave 'Get full version key'
checked during installation to start the process
of receiving your free registration key
Need to know Burning Studio 2009 does not
support creation of DVD video discs

Ashampoo Burning Studio 2009

Burn audio or data discs quickly and easily

Ashampoo Burning Studio 2009 is a
simple, yet powerful, suite that aims to
get back to disc-burning basics. No
bloat, no unnecessary features, no confusing
options to get in your way- just the core
functionality you need delivered through an
easy-to-use wizard-based interface.

In just one click you can create a simple data
disc; for instance, CD, DVD or Blu-ray. Drag and
drop the files or folders you need onto the work
area and the disc can be burned in two clicks.

It's just as easy to create an audio CD or
video CD (VCD). Point and click, drag and drop
your files, click Next > Write and watch as your
disc is burned. The interface is virtually identical
in every case, so once you've used one you'll
feei at home with them all.

A handy design tool will help you create disc
covers, labels and booklets, and there are plenty
of bundled templates from which to choose.

There's all the usual supporting functionality
you'd expect from any disc-burning package:
you can copy discs, erase rewriteable discs, rip
audio CDs and work with several types of disc
image (lso, Cue/Bin, ASH DISC).

Ashampoo has also thrown in a competent
backup tool, which displays the contents of your
hard drive in an Explorer-like tree, letting you
check boxes to decide which files and folders
you'd like to back up Customisable filters can
exclude files you don't need, then the backup
can be saved to CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc, with
the program automatically splitting the backup
across multiple discs if it's too large.

Three reasons why you need Ashampoo Burning Studio 2009

Ash.imooo .

Burninq St a

— !L

v» '

-■

ISome disc-burning packages weigh your PC
down with unnecessary features that can tie up
1.SGB or more of hard disk space. By comparison,
Ashampoo Burning Studio 2009 requires a minimal
18MB, thanks to a back to basics approach that
ensures it's much easier to find the disc-burning
function you need.

2 Most of the data and audio-burning functions
use almost identical wizards that make them
easy to use. just drag and drop the files you need,
click Next > Write and wait for your disc to be
burned. But the program still has the features you
need; for example, normalising audio tracks to
ensure they all have similar volume.

Even though it's a simple and relatively small
package, Ashampoo Burning Studio 2009 still
finds room to squeeze in some very useful disc-
related features. The backup tool is an excellent way
to create quick ad- hoc backups of important data,
for example, and the Print and Design function can
produce quality disc labels in minutes.

READER OFFER SAVE 75% ON BURNING STUDIO 8

NEW FEATURES

Create animated DVD slideshows
Many transitions and zoom effects
Bum video DVDs
Quicklime video source support
Preview DVD movies with audio
Optimised for even better performance

Upgrade to Ashampoo Burning Studio 8 and you'll gain features such as the ability to
create animated DVD slideshows from your favourite photos. You can now create DVD
movies from Quicklime source files (amongst many other supported formats), preview
them with sound, then burn them to video DVDs. And the whole process has been
optimised for even better performance and compatibility. The program would normally
cost £34.99, but as a registered owner of Ashampoo Burning Studio 2009 you tan
upgrade for only £7.99 - a 75 per cent discount. Click Internet > Upgrade to Ashampoo
Burning Studio 8 to place your order.

•' www.pcw.co.uk

135

COVER DISC

lolo Antivirus

At first glance lolo Antivirus looks much
the same as any other anti-virus tool.
There's real-time scanning of
downloads, emails and any files you might open,
for instance. Scheduled and on-demand scans
will give your system a more thorough checkup,
and regular updates ensure you're always
equipped to deal with the latest threats. Take a
closer look, though, and you begin to realise
that lolo Antivirus has some significant
advantages over most competitors.

The program won't hog so many system
resources that it'll interfere with your other PC
activities, for instance By default even scheduled

INFORMATION

System requirements Windows 98, ME, 2000,

XP, Vista; BOMB hard disk space, Internet

Explorer 6 or higher

Cont3ctwww.iolo.com

Registration Get your free serial code from

www.iob.com/vnuav

Need to know The program includes free

updates for 1 2 months after the date of

installation, and may be installed on up to

three PCs

scans won't start until the PC has been idle for
10 minutes, and they'll stop if you return to do
something else, lolo hasn't forgotten that older
PCs also need protection, either. While some
other packages require at least 150MB of disk
space and Windows XP, lolo Antivirus is happy
with 30MB and Windows 98.

The scanning engine uses a number of
heuristic approaches to identify new threats
from their behaviour alone. But the best part is
hidden away in the small print of the lolo
Antivirus licence - you're able to install it on up
to three PCs, and they'll all receive for updates
for a 12 months from the date of installation

READER OFFER
SAVE 50% ON ANY
IOLO PRODUCT

lolo produces a wide range of PC
security and maintenance tools.
There's System Mechanic, which
contains everything you need to
speed up your PC; System Shield,
a complete internet security
suite; Search and Recover, an
undelete tool; and Drive Scrubber,
a program designed to securely wipe
drives and ensure your data cannot
be recovered. Prices start at £15, hut
you'll quality for a further SO per cent
discount just by registering iolo
Antivirus, Check your registration
email for the coupon code, and order
at www.iolo.com.

Paragon Drive Backup 9 SE

Paragon Drive Backup 9.0 Personal Special
Edition is a backup tool that creates an
image of any hard disk or partition with
the absolute minimum of hassle. This image file
may then be saved to a local or network drive,
CD or DVD - whatever's most convenient

The first backup will seem slow as you're
saving the entire contents of your system. The
program can build differential backups on future
runs (images that contain only new or modified
files) and that really speeds things up.

Paragon Drive Backup 9 Personal Special
Edition has other uses, too. It's able to save just
the master boot record (MBR) and first track of
your hard drive, for instance, where your key

INFORMATION

System requirements Wndows XP (32/
64-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit64-bit);
110MB hard disk space

www.paragon-software.com
Registration Click 'Get Free Serial'
during installation

boot structures are stored. This will only take up
a couple of megabytes, so you can squeeze it
onto any handy CD. If the MBR gets corrupted
later and your PC won't start, then boot from
the program's rescue disc instead (see Tools >
Recovery Media Builder), restore the backup and
you'll be back in operation in minutes.

And you also get a range of useful hard
drive- related tools covering everything from
partition management (create, format, delete,
hide and unhide the partition of your choice) to
advanced low-level tweaks (change a partition
serial number or ID). Paragon Drive Backup 9
Personal Special Edition really does offer
something for everyone.

READER OFFER
SAVE 20% ACROSS
PARAGON RANGE

Move to Paragon Drive Backup 9.0
Personal and you'll be able to
exclude some files and folders from
your image, speeding up the backup
process. A scheduler runs backups
automatically and writes the image
to a backup capsule (a special
partition on your hard drive). This
capsule can have its own Linux or
Dos recovery environment, making it
easy to restore your backup. Paragon
Drive Backup 9.0 Personal normally
costs £27, but register Paragon Drive
Backup 9.0 PSE and you'll gualify for
a 20 per cent discount, and any other
program in the Paragon range. Check
your registration email for details.

136

www.pcw.co.uk

COVER DISC

INFORMATION

System requirements Windows 2000
Professional/ XP (32/64-bit)/ Vista (32/64-bit).
40MB hard disk space
Contact www.paragon-software.conn
Registration Follow the instructions during the
setup process to receive your free product key,
or visit www paragon-
software .com / registration /dc9se . h tm I

Paragon Drive Copy 9 Personal SE

Copy your entire hard disk or individual partitions to a new disk

Old hard disks can be a performance
bottleneck in some PCs, so upgrading
to a faster model can deliver a
significant speed boost, but setting it up
manually can take forever. You'll have to install
Windows on the new drive, then all your
applications, download updates and transfer all
your data. And that's before you move on to the
really difficult bits, like trying to set up Windows
and your apps to work as they did before.

You can avoid the hassle, though, with a
little help from Paragon Drive Copy 9
Personal Special Edition. Just install the new
drive, launch a Drive Copy wizard, and it'll copy
your system in seconds. Once it's finished you
can switch your hard disks, reboot and enjoy a
revitalised, faster new PC.

Of course life isn't always that
straightforward. One of your hard disks might
have a technical problem of some kind, or you
might not want to copy the entire disk. Paragon
Drive Copy 9 Personal Special Edition can help
there, too The program provides tools to test
drives, check file system integrity or scan for
drive surface problems, for instance. You can
create partitions on the new drive, if you'd like it
to have a different structure, then copy selected
partitions from your current system.

You'll soon have your new disk up and
running, but the program's usefulness doesn't
end there. You can use it to schedule disk or
partition copies, making it a handy backup tool.
You can even create a bootable rescue CD - a
potential lifesaver if your PC won't start

How to make an exact copy of your hard disk quickly

p-™^™

KS*^ ~~r

-4>

r— — — — —

r"""™"rj;r"

*| "

■^ ^

™

1 ••;..

■ 1

.._ . _ ,_ . _.

If you just need a simple, direct copy of your
I system drive, then click One Button Copy Wizard.
Tell the program which drive you're copying, and
whete you wont the copy to be written, accept the
default copy settings (they're fine, though check the
Help file it you need to know more), then wait as
your system is cloned.

You can carry out more complex actions from
the program, too, such as scan for file system
errors or copy selected partitions. But these may
require a reboot. It's probably easier to perform
these advanced tasks from the standalone version
ot Drive Copy, instead - grab a blank CD and click
Tools > Recovery Media Builder to create it.

Reboot your system from the CD to launch the
standalone version of Drive Copy, which will
run far more smoothly now there are no more
background processes using your hard disk.
Right-click a drive to perform advanced tasks such
as managing your partitions, or click the Wizards
menu to create the duplicate drive you need.

READER OFFER SAVE 20% ACROSS THE PARAGON RANGE

NEW FEATURES

Powerful PC backup
Professional drive partitioning
Comprehensive drive def ragmen tat ion
Securely wipe hard drives
All-in-one hard drive management
Read NTFS drives on a Mac

Everyone who registers their copy of Paragon Drive Copy 9 Personal Special Edition will
receive a coupon code offering a 20 per cent discount off any other product in the
Paragon range. There are tools to defragment your hard drive, recover deleted files,
encrypt confidential data, create aid manage hard drive partitions, and back op your
system. Visit www.paragor-software.com to find out more, but hurry - your coupon
code will expire seven days after you register.

•' www.pcw.co.uk

137

HANDS ON LINUX/UNIX

Barry Shilliday has worked with

computers for almost two decades. By day.
he is a Linux and U nix consultant, but in his
free time he prefers to travel the world -and
snap it with his camera.

-> Comments welcome on the
Llnux/Urilx column.

Email linux@pcw.co.Ufc
Flense do not send unsolicited
file attachments.

Disks and filesystems

Find out how different the Unix way of disk handling is from the Windows approach

If you are not used to the Unix way
of accessing disk drives, things may
seem a little complicated at first,
especially if you are coming from a
Windows background. With the
Microsoft opera ling system, partitions
on a disk are assigned an arbitrary
letter, Starting with 'C:' for the system
disk. kach partition across however
many disks or CDs (or even network
'drives') are available is accessed in
this way. However, with Linux, and all
Unix derivatives, storage devices a re-
mounted onto a single virtual
lilesystem, known as the root
lilesysteitt, Instead.

The best way to illustrate the
difference is to imagine a typical disk
that has been set up for dual-booting
between Windows and Linux. You can
see a graphical representation of this
disk, as shown in die Ubuniu a. II) live
installer (see screen 1).

The disk has two primary partitions
and two logical ones (see the box on
the next page for more information!.
The first primary partition is an
NTFS- formatted Windows XP
installation. The second primary
partition is formatted with Linux's
ext3, and contains a copy of Ubtuuu.

The first logical parrition is for
various data (iles to be accessed both
from Windows and Linux., and is
formatted with NTFS; the final
logical partition is swap space for the
l.inux installation. The table on the
next page shows how Windows and
Linux may refer to each pan it ion on
this disk.

While Windows assigns a letter to
lilesysterus it can understand (such as
NTFS and the File Allocation Table, or
Fat}, it ignores any others completely.

Linux on the oilier hand uses
device names based on the hardware
layout it sell. The first disk drive
(typically the boot drive) is given the
name sda, and each partition is

Pr*ev* partition*

iEsaum

Dtv*:* >>■■ Met** port
>ff».nil«

. . . .

FannM? ijt

iHrrf»il«4 !-■!"

■ • .-,. . h wfw ia ■ -*" ■■ ■

+i&, ,,5*1

assigned a lixed ascending number. Typical disk layout

The root partition (the second on a dual-boot

primary partition, in this example) is system

mounted as the top-level directory,
and any other drives are mounted
below it.

As a result, all files that you can
access under Linux, whether they're
on an internal, disk or a remote server,
are manipulated under one lilesystem.
In the example above, entering the
directory ^media/data would take yon
1 1 on i i he I inux partition 10 the
Windows data drive on ZdeWsdaS. Access disks using

This approach oflcrs some flexibility. their UUID
.If you decided to add a drive to the numbers or labels

barryjvinl Tepid:

system to replace the data partition,
it would be a simple task to switch
("media/data to point to the new
storage space. Similarly, adding extra
drives or network shares will not
change the layout, so sda5 will
remain sda5. Drives can be added at
any time without disrupting the
structure of the filesyslem; you could
add a new drive on /media/video,
without it allecting anything else.

However, issues over device
names can still occur, especially wiih
plug-in storage. .For example, if your
PC has a single internal hard disk,
and you plug in an external USB
drive, then the USB drive will be
named 'sdb'. If you then plug an ifod
into another USB port, it will be
assigned 'sdc'.

But what happens if you plug them
in the other way round? The device
names will be reversed, as Linux
assigns device names according to the
order in which it finds tbem.

So while the system works well Ear
fixed internal drives, it is less
predictable when storage availability
becomes variable. Fortunately, access
to plug-in devices is handled very well
and transparently by Linux desktops,
and is rarely noticed by users.

SCREEN 2

pie Edit view Terminal Jabs Help
barry@intrepid;-S sudn vol id /dev/sdb6
ID FS USACE=f iles ys ten
ID FS TfPE=ext2
ID FS VERSI0N=1,S

ID FS lUID=4562ed5c-64ca-4ad2-93af-lb2add8df458
ID FS UUID ENC=4562ed5e-64ca-4ad2.9aaMb2add0df456
ID FS LABEL=
ID FS LABEL ENC=
ID FS LABEL SAFE=

barry@intrepid:-s sudo mount UUID=4562ed5c-64ca-4ad2-9aaf -lE>Jaddedf456 /media/da
ta

barry@intrepid:-S mount I grep data
/dev/sdb6 on /media/data type ext2 (rw)
barry@intrepid:-S []

138

www.pcw.co.uk

MORE HANDS ON LINUX/UNIX Go to
w w w. pcw.co. uk/tags/l i n ux_a nd_un i x

LINUX/UNIX < HANDS ON

UUIDs

The mechanism of accessing storage
devices by the hardware device name
has worked well tor a long Time, hut its
inadequacies have been addressed
recently by the move to Universally
Unique Identifiers (UUIDs).

A UUID is a lung number,
essentially a numerical ftageiprint,
that is allocated to each filesystem.
Rather than mount a partition based
on its device name, Limix can now
mount it based on its UUID instead.

The Linux kernel scans all the
lilesystenis across all available drives,
and keeps a record of the UUID of
each one. internally linking it to the
associated device name. This means
that no matter what device name a
partition has, its lilcsyslem can always
he located by the same identifier,
even il the lilcsyslem has been
cloned and moved to another hard
drive altogether.

This method is especially useful lor
booting Linux systems. The Grab
bootloader recognises these UUIDs,
and can locate and hoot any filesystem
available, without the complication of
having to know which partition, or
even which disk, it is located on.

II you install a copy of Ubuntu onto
an external drive, so long as that drive
is plugged in when the computer is
switched on (and the Bios can
recognise it), the bootloader can start
up the operating system without being
configured to look for a specific drive.
Rather than being configured to boot,
say, the third partition on the second
drive, it can he configured just to boot
the relevant Hlesystem by its identifier.

The main drawback of using
unique identifiers as opposed to device
names is when the partition is
reformatted. II you decide to wipe a
partition, even if yon use the same
kind of filesystem as before, the
unique identifier will change,
although the device name will remain
the same.

Again, this is rarely a problem, and
also a rare occurrence itself in practice
Where filesystems are automatically

External drives are
handled cleanly
and transparently
by the Gnome
desktop. The
advanced Volume
tab shows technical
details

PC partitions explained

The way in which PCs boot hasn't
really charged since the days of the
earliest IBM PCs. The computer's
Bios initialises the hardware when it
is switched on and then starts up the
operating system from a boot disk.

The Bios expects to find the boot
disk partitioned in the traditional
way, using a master boot record, or
MBR. The MBR is a far from flexible
tool: it allows for a maximum of
four partitions (known as primary
partitions).

One of these primary partitions
can be treated as an 'extended'
partition, which can be further split

into several 'logical' partitions.

There are further limitations. The
standard MBR bootloader can only
start up an operating system
installed on a primary partition,
which means that Windows cannot
be installed onto a logical partition

There is no such restriction
with Linux, as the standard
bootloader. Grub, can start Linux
from either partition type. As the
layout of the MBR is fixed, the first
logical partition always begins at
position 5 in Linux, even if fewer
than four primary partitions are
actually created.

mounted in the /etc/ (slab file, you can
updale the UUIDs easily enough to the
new codes. Running the command
'vol_id' determines a partition's ULTD:
$ sudo vol_ld /dev/sda2

A command like this will return the
UUID on the partition provided. The
identifier follows the tag '1D_FS_UUID'
in the command output (see screen 2],
This can then be used in the mount
command, followed by 'l. UCD='. either
with the mount command directly, or
in I he /etc/fstab file.

Some distributions ot Linux will
configure existing partitions from any

Partition naming

PARTITION AND TYPE

on a typical dual-boot disk

WINDOWS LINUX DEVICE

MOUNT POINT

1st Primary
2nd Primary

C:
N/A

sdal
sda2
sda3
sda4
sdaS
sda6

/media/winxp

/
N/A

N/A

/media/data

(swap)

3rd Primary

N/A

4th Primary

N/A

1st Logical

2nd logical

N/A

other copies of Linux present on the
drive at the lime oi installation, and so
it may be necessary to adjust the
identifiers il the other distributions arc-
re -in stalled or removed.

Labels

Lithe Is oiler a simpler alternative to
UUIDs, but work in almost exactly
the same way. Supported filesystems,
mkIi as MTS and c\li. can be given
an easy- to- remember label. For
N IPS lilesystenis, the label is what
Windows uses to refer to the drive
alongside its drive letter, and can be
changed from within Windows itself,
or by using the 'mislabel' command
in Linux.

For ex 1 5 filesystems, change the
label with the 'e21abel' command:
S sudo e21abel /dev/sda2 Ubuntu

This command changes the label ol
the filesystem on /dev/sda2 to
'Ubumu'. It can then be used in the
/etc/lstab file or with the mount
command in the same way as UUIDs
by using 'L/VBJiI.=' instead.

The big advantage of labels is that
they are easy to remember and can
offer more immediate meaning than a
long, obscure number. In the Gnome
desktop, partitions are also listed by
their label, which can be useful for
accessing other drives (See screen 3).

The disadvantages arc thai labels
only work on supported filesystems
(not swap space, for example} and arc-
not unique, so rising labels only works
if there is no duplication, such as two
partitions being labelled 'data'. Both
UUIDs and labels can be used together,
with the former more useful for
configuration files, and the latter for
informal ion. PCW

'■■" www.pcw.co.uk

139

HANDS ON DIGITAL IMAGING & VIDEO

Ken McMahon is a freelance
journalist and graphic designer. His
involvement with digital camera; began
with a Commodore 64. He graduated to
Macs and now works mostly with PCs.

-> Comments welcome on the
Digital Imaging & video column.

Email digitalimaging@pcw.co uk
Please do not -send umolicitcd
file attachments.

When Flash goes crash

What to do if your camera's memory card lets you down

Every so often the Hands On
mailbox receives a desperate
request from a reader who has
just Inst all theft holiday,
wedding or other onee-in-a-lifettoe
event photos and is toping against
hope that there may he some way of
retrieving them.

If you find yourself in I his situation
right now, you're in luck (il yon can
call it that), because this month's
column is all about retrieving images
from reformaLLed, damaged and
corrupt memory cards, ff all your
photos are safe and sound and tiaeked
up in three different locations, give
yourself a smug pat on the hack and
put this issue somewhere safe: you
never know when it's going to happen
to you.

Prevention, as the well-worn
phrase lias il, is [tetter than cure, and
there are a few things you can do to
ensure that catastrophe is less likely to
erase your precious memories before
you get them off your media cards.

The first tiling to do is to copy the
images onto your hard drive and hack
them up at the earliest opportunity,
t'm always astonished when Iriends
show me photos on their digital
cameras that go hack months. Larger
4G11 and 8GB cards are useful if you
shoot a tot of image 5, but using them
as an excuse to put off transferring
files to your PC is asking for trouble.

Use a card reader to transfer your
files to your PC rather than attaching
the camera itself, particularly il you're
experiencing problems with [he card.
And once you've safely transferred
and backed up your photos. Formal the
card in the camera before using it again.

What can go wrong?

Judging by the Hands On mailbox,
forum posts and the testimonials on
recover)' software and services
websiies, the most common reason for

4) >* ' w»

Rnnwry; nto Tw*

W I!

»«*1«

mtm ■ ■

* Tlv tVPM * it ¥*"* FWrtJn} tft rKlnW'i>
Hbfa'niM

■■ • ft™- ■ .»

losing digital images is accidental
erasure or formatting.

Sometimes your camera can Ir-
responsible without any intervention
oil your pari. Batteries may fail during
a write operation (after you press the
shutter bui bciorc the images have
finished writing to the card, for
example). And occasionally weird si nil
happens for no apparent reason, such
■is your camera suddenly informing
voi i lhai i here arc no images on a card
when you've just spent the last hall
hour shooting.

II you take the advice offered
earlier, then if you do accidentally
format a card lull of images you'll only
have lost your most recent photo
session. Compact i " I . ■ -- 1 1 and SO cards
use I he Windows pat
( Pile Allocation Table)
format. Cards up to
4GB use Pat 16 and
larger cards use Fat 12.
As with a hard disk,
when you erase files, or
quick- forma t a drive,
the data itself isn't
usually erased, only the
director) is amended,
with pointers lo the
image data removed
and the memory
locations occupied hy

You tell Image
Rescue what
camera you have,
and it will hunt
down the
missing files

Easy to use with
good results, but
Photo Rescue
doesn't let you
search for file types

<b3--n—

■ 111

lie

the files shown as available for writing.
The first rule when things go wrong
is to stop rising the card immediately
arid remove it from ihe camera. There's
a good chance that the image files are
Slill on the card, intact, and that you'll
be able lo recover them using
inexpensive file recovery software.

On test

I've carried out limited testing using
five inexpensive data recovery
applications. The most costly
(assuming sterling hasn't yet reached
parity with the dollar) is C28. 1 5 and
most are available as trial downloads.
In many cases the trial will tell you
whether the program can find
recoverable files on the card, and you
can pay lor the full version of the
software to recover them.

For each of ihe applications I
attempted to recover photos written to
[luce cards using two diflerenl
cameras. The cameras were a Canon
Eos 2QD SLR and a Nikon Coolpix
5200 compact. The Eos 20D was used
to write 200 images to a 2GR Sandisk
Ultra tl CF card, and an 8GB Lexar
Professional 1 33x CF card. The
Coolpix was used to record 1 00 images
on a Sandisk 1 GB SD card.

Because of the proprietary nature
of camera Raw files, it can be more
difficult for recovery
software lo identify
and rescue Rawfiles
than JPEGs or other
published image file
formats. Of the liles
shot with the 200 to
the two Compact Flash
cards, 1 00 were Raw
.cr2 files and 1 00 were
JPEGs. All those shot
on the Coolpix were
JPEGs.

After the photos
were taken, the card

WMiiy

140

www.pcw.co.uk

MORE HANDS ON DIGITAL IMAGING Go to
www. pcw.co.uk/tags/digital_i magi ng

DIGITAL IMAGING & VIDEO < HANDS ON

was formatted in the camera before
being transferred to the card readw to
attempt recovery using each of the
applications. The card reader used was
the same in each case: Lexar's
Professional Ulna DMA dual -slot
Compact Plash and SD card reader'.

The results

The results can be summed up fairly
simply: every application had nearly
100 per cent success at recovery of
both Raw and JPRG files. Most were
able to retrieve images from earlier
sessions as well, but these haven't
been included in the results.

As important as an application's
ability to recover lost data is its ease of
use. What follows is a brief explanation
of how each ol rite applications works
and how easy it was to recover the lost
images on the cards. Since you're only
likely to need to do this rarely, llie ease
with which you can recover your lost
photos using unfamiliar software is an
important factor.

Image Rescue 3

linage Rescue 3 takes you step by step
through the image recovery process
using a wizard-based panel. You can
select your camera manulacmrer and
tell the software what kind ol files
you're trying to recover: images, video
or audio, and the file type. For Raw
formats it provides the options lor
your camera manii fact u ret, so if you
select Canon, (or example, you get
CR2, CRW, JPG and TTF (see screen I),

The software then scans the card
and tells you what it has found. It took
around halt an hour to scan the 8GB
Lexar Compact Plash card; obviously,
smaller cards won't take so long. It's
also faster if you search lor fewer file
formats; I elected to find all the

_G»rilBMrr.4Jat,' '

H«:*=NJE

. » lliDfcJ ■*•-!

U Inn P» ^4 *B* i*W<? N '« Ml TWW *B " (T* K^ Hi

'*"if« ?mmi k

< ba im*

^ m'aMi i

H<:»=L'M

Top: Card Recovery
Is the most
expensive, but also
the most efficient

Bottom: Easy Photo
Recovery is
extremely simple

Below: There's no
wizard Interface,
but Photo Recovery
doesn't take too
long to get used to

available still image lile formats.

linage Rescue 3 did a good job,
recovering all but one ol tlie liles. It
mistook the Raw.cr2 liles forTIFI-s and
saved them with a .tiff extension, but
I hey still opened as Raw files in Adobe
Camera Raw.

Photo Rescue Wizard 3.0

Photo Rescue offers recovery soil ware
in several stages: Wizard, Expert and
Advanced. ] tested I hi- Wizard version.
which lu rued out to be extremely easy
to use. The quick recovery option
scans your card and presents you with
thumbnails ol all the recoverable
images it can find.

Unlike Image Rescue. Photo Rescue
doesn't give the option to search lor
specific tile types (see screen 21. Bui il
did recover all the tiles with filenames
and correct extensions, 'file demo
version let:, yon do everything bar save
recovered files to disk, lor which yon
need to pay $29.99 for a licence key.

Photo Recovery 3.5

Unlike Image Rescue and Photo Rescue,
Photo Recovery isn't wizard -driven and
the interlace is a little more involved,
(hough uoi overly difficult (sec screen
3). You have to select your Card reader
from a drive lisl and there's a long.

long list of file types of all kinds to
select from, not just media files. To
make things easier you can select
preset groups, such as "Canon'. 1 went
wkli the default All Cameras option.
Photo Recovery did a great job of
recovering both the Raw and JPEG
images on all the cards, ft seemed to
have a problem with handling die
display o( the images, though, and
everything slowed to a crawl, making
it difficult even to scroll through the
list of recovered images. This was at
least in pan due lo the processing
requirements of displaying previews
for Raw files and is something the
other applications suffered from as
welt, albeit to a lesser extent.

Card Recovery 4.10

Card Recovery is the most expensive
of the utilities tested, but it is one of
the easiest to use and most efficient
(see screen 4). The step-by-step wizard
asks you to select the drive letter for
ihe card reader and choosing your
camera brand and the file types you
want to recover. You don't need to
specify suffixes: just check die box lor
photos, video and Air sound.

The next step starts the scan and,
when that's complete, you save the
recovered files to disk. As with most ol
the other utilities, you can scan your
card using the demo download to see
what's recoverable. If you find what
you're looking for, pay the fee to
enable the save hmclion: no gain, no
pain, so to speak.

One of the things I like about Card
Recovery is that you can stop the scan
part-way once you've found Ihe liles
you want and move on lo the saving
stage. This is particularly useful lor
large-capacity cards.

On the SGR I.exar card the utility
1 1 .id loin id everything : l was going to
find in the first few minutes. I let the
scan run to die end, just lo be sure,
but had ( stopped it, I could have saved
myself around 20 minutes.

Easy Photo Recovery 2.4

h doesn't gel much simpler I ban this:
you select the drive letter, then click
Scan (see screen 5). There's a Fast Scan
option Ibat 1 didn't bother with on the
grounds thai saving pictures, not time,
is likely to be most users' priority.

In the event, the standard scan is
pretty fast, it's the image processing
and preview generation that takes time.
The trial version lets you save low-
resolution versions of recovered stills
and the first second of video clips. PCW

8 www.pcw.co.uk 141

HANDS ON WORD PROCESSING

Ttm Nott is a full-time freelance
journalist. When he's not writing about
Windows and word processing, he tackles
many other diverse subjects. He currently
lives in France with his wife and family.

-> Comments welcome on the
Word processing column.

Email wp@pcw.co uk

Please do not send unsolicited

file attachments.

Writer's tools

Give your word processing a boost with some of these suggestions

Back in September 2008, we
mentioned that a new beta
version of Openoffice.org was
available for download. The
release version 3.0 is now available,
and like previous versions ft'S free. As
we mentioned al the time, there are
many enhancements, not least of
which is the ability to open and save
Microsoft Office 2007 tiles.

Also recently updated— and free -is
Dmitri Popov's Writer's Tools version
1 . 1 .7, which yon can find at
h It p :/ /cod e. q oog I e. t o m ,/p fvi i i te i loo I s .
Installing it is something ol a fiddle, btit
worth the effort. Download the zip file
and extract Ihe contents to a folder.
Stan Opcnolfice, and Irom the Tools
meitt] run the Extension Manager.
Click the Add button (in previous
versions yon need to select 'My
Extensions' first) and navigate to the
folder containing the extracted files.
Select 'WrilcrTools.oxt' and click Open
(see screen 1 ). Yon can also add the
WriterTentplates.oxt, should yon wish.
To use these features you'll need to
register the WriterDR database as an
Ope nollice.org data source. Go to Tools,
Options, expand the Openoifice.org
liase branch, select Databases and dick
New. "Browse to the Writer.DB.obd file
that comes with the Writer's Tools
package and OK out of both dialogues.

Close and restart Openoffice, and
when you start Writer, you'll see a

■ '■-■'• -*™^

tfr £11 ;W h«o-
U - D □ □

l*uK Tg* >* Mnn* a**»*- »*-

! u a a ' l*-»'—

*hd=H.'»

t *(m n»* fc

Tin el

Wfrtefs tocti fcr 001

ww-flvftlahlrYcr-dcwrioKl -Tl
|muu "venaaj tfi ifcrolaEl

m ..-mfad brrr blip rwlr e

* )••>■

j Q at <D E D D

'■■ ■ " ■ " .-■ -.' •

"WmsTceta oxT lid elide Op

fin Mm

<«sc«»

i J OpEnOffic wj

< ti* mw, tkfir M t luff
«-4»d'CFe-Sltf* otafl' OjtYr

DpwnfoidtbrZtpIlk *»1
^Mitr Tediturniof
.1- l^kajaja?' -Tib ■ 'Li

-IrJ hlri -S* I
VMlaTcmpMn on staald

A menu full
of goodies

Adding the Writer's
Tools to Openoffice

j j Qmfclw^dJw

new menu tor Writer's Took (see
screen 2). To use some ot the tools,
such as Lookup, you'll need to provide
the path to your default web browser

the lirsl time y< se them. I laving

done ibis you'll find you can highlight
a word or phrase, click Lookup and
have a choice of nine sources, ranging
from Wikipedia loa dictionary oi
contusing words. Other built-in
lookup tools include translating words
or phrases into oilier languages via
Google Translate, and finding a place
on Google maps.

The next section has a variety of
options for backing up, including
Amazon Simple Storage Service
(LinuA only), a remote FIT site or a
Gmail address. There's also a
mullilormal backup tool that creates
a 7IP lile in the current [older with
versions of the document in text,
RTF and DOC format.

A Quick Converter lets you
calculate feet to metres and Celsius to
Fahrenheit and, as screen 3 shows,
there's >i rather bizarre word ol (lie
day feature. There's also a timer,
should you want to monitor youi
perlormance, or perhaps log editing
lime for billing, .nid a father fine

visual word count that shows a
progress bar as you struggle
towards your target (see screen 41.
A Notebook tool lets yon add
snippets of text to a database, rather
tike a multiple clipboard.

The bookmarks feature, to put it
mildly, is confusing. Ambiguity is a
frequent hazard in open -source
projects, and this is not the same as the
in-document bookmarks found in the
Insert menu. There's also another
different add-on called Bookmarks for
adding commands to menus. What
Hookmarks seems lo do is add
shortcuts to oilier documents lo a list
independent ot the text. Finally,
there's a link lo Liilti.com, where you
can buy a primed manual for
Openoffice Writer for £9.65.

More bookmarks

Getting back to the conventional use
of the word 'bookmarks' in word
processing, last month we looked at
the basics of Word's bookmarks feature
and promised you some more
ambitious Tricks. Starting of! with
something simple, let's say you've
created a letter template with a
heading, automatic date insertion and
other conveniences. To round things
off, you'd like the template to open al
the salutation, so you can immediately
start typing after 'Dear" without
having to move ihe insertion point.
This is easily done. Open the template,
insert a bookmark where you want lo
start typing and give it a name, such as
'siarthere'. Now create a new
Au tone w macro as follows:
Sub Autonew( )
ActiveDocumeirt . Bookmarks
("star-there") .Select
End Sub

{Key- kf ante M riiii; tomlnue*)

If yon already have an Aulonew
macro for that template; just add the
second line, placing it immediately

142

www.pcw.co.uk

MORE HANDS ON WORD PROCESSING Go to
www.pcw.co.uk/tags/word_processing

WORD PROCESSING < HANDS ON

!___._________;

^QP sock dra

(wera - Hard disks -are like s-ock drawees: they always seem to be inexplicably full

SEI

above the existing End Sub line. Save
and dose the template. Each time you
create a new document based on the
template you'll lind the insertion point
is right where you want it.

You may want to sequentially
number every document based on a
particular template. One obvious
example is producing invoices. There
are several ways of doing this, but
the simplest is to use an Aiiloiext
entry in the template. So open the
template, type 'Invoice number:'
somewhere suitable, followed by the
number you want to start from.
Highlight the latter, then Insert,
Autotext, New. Give it a name, such
as 'currentnumber' (don't worry, you
won't ever have to type it out), and
with the number still selected create
another bookmark, named 'invnum'.

Now add the following code to the
An tone w macro:
lastnumS = ActiveDocuitient.
AttachedTemplate.AutoText..
Entries ("current number")
cttrrnumS = Str(Val( lastnumS) ■
♦ 1)

ActiveDocuitient. Attached..
Template. AutoTextEntries
("currentnumber") .Value = <•
currnumS

ActiveDocuitient . Bookmarks .
("invnum") .Select
ActlveDocutnent .Attached
Template. AutoTextEntries.:
("currentnumber") .Insert t
Where; =Selection. flange
ActiveDocuitient. Attached!
Template. Save

Taking this Erie byline, this first
reads the value of the 'currenlimmber'
Autotext entry and assigns it to the
variable lastnumS'. It than increments
the value of this by one, and stores the
result as 'currniiinS'. The line that
follows updates the Autotext entry to
the incremented number, and the line
after that selects the 'invnum'
bookmark. The penultimate line
inserts the updated Autotext entry at
the bookmark, and finally the macro
saves the template file to include the
updated Autotext entry.

Another thing you might want to
do with an invoice is automatically
insert a 'pay by' date based on the
invoice date. Let's say you want to

WORD COUNT

Cutrent word count
Completed %:

Progress:

S5[

Close!

give your customers JO days to pay
up. So, at on appropriate point in the
template, type 'This invoice is due for
payment hy', loll owed by a bookmark
named 'payby'. Then create the
following macro code.
ActiveDocuitient .Bookmarks
("payby"). Select
Selection. TypeText Text:,
=Format(Date + 30, "d mmmm .

yyyy")

This will insert a date 30 days in the
future. It inserts it as plain text so it
won't change when fields are updated.

Look, don't touch

The Microsoft Word Viewer is a free

download from Microsoft, and yon can

find it at http://tinvurl.totn/2c3xsk. As the No Word?

name suggests, it lets you view Word No problem

«<■ £w

fiAmi ON WINDOWS COL LI UN FOE PCW. AUGUST 1191

fu .1 BnrsJi SwullTqfc.1 Qaty

TITLE:

UNDER NEW MAHAGEJJEKT

rmratmn..afcmJnW«|i.M Tto m~ n \ m m t i r »t3»a+

HH^iJf^t"^^' mn4ifclmlHi«iWlKtf
iw—ii i i im i »»'M^n^iw<i1uiW»y>iitjt;u

^m4bi * r -- 1 *-f — ffci il -r an-fca^^ -■* firfiM

"— f- ntwrml£f rmt. f^t-Tmimi Vk ri hi nvuia^*>m<«J

FEEDBACK FflEKZY

afr^.nuii,^ .riaicr- -Ml -a. -^ Use m mm akarf MbI a

ti I ■!'! rut i »i 'n i " - Ti"anif firm !■■**. it i t*m

J :*-l 1

V5 U 2,9cm Ln 1 Cd 1

***., MMddM

i i« i it a i i -i > +

ttahte Dcnn Wt« Enbwt|

A pearl of wisdom files without having Word installed,
from Writer's Tools You can download the Compatibility
Pack for Word, Kxcel and Powerpoint
2007. also free, from http://tinyuil.totn/
ykurnsJ, and with both installed you'll
be able to view Word 2007 DOCX liles
as well as the earlier DOC liles. You'll
also be able to view Microsoft Works
and WordPerfect documents.

Whereas this is obviously useful for
someone who doesn't have any
version of Microsoft Word or Office
installed, but would like to be able to
read and print documents, it has other
uses, [f you open an old Word lor
Windows or Dos document you may
Getting there- hud lh.ii Wort! changes all the dates

the Openoffice therein to the current date. This Can

visual word count make it rather difficult to ascertain
when, say, a letter was first written.
What is happening here is that
originally a 'today' date field was
inserted instead of a static date. It's
not so easy to make that mistake in
later versions of Word - you can either
insert a Create Date field, which
returns the date and lime the
document was first saved, or
insert a date without the 'Update
Automatically' option selected. If you
don't Save the file, then the original
dales are there somewhere, and it's
possible to lock the fields so this
doesn't happen. The Word viewer
does not do this updating, so it's a
much less troublesome way of reading
old files I see screen 5).

Easier indexing

Feedback is still coming in from our
four- month marathon on long
documents. In January's column we
wrapped up the series with a look at
indexing. This prompted a mail from
Alan Ragg. Alan writes user guides and
manuals lor hespoke software lor the
oil and gas industries, and remarks
that indexing in Word is a pain. Over
the years he has written various
macros to make this simpler, such as
Stepping through indexed words from
the index itself, adding sub-entries
from a dropdown list of main entries,
deleting words from the index and so
on. He has put all of these together
into a set with a toolbar that he sells
"for a pittance' as shareware. We've
tried this out and it is rather good (see
screen 6). You can try before you buy
a t w ww.f lai r-co it 5 ultants .com/in dex in g_
tools.html. This fully luiictional version
comes with - in Alan's own words -
'an annoying pop-up window', but
Alan Fagg's you can purchase a version free from

Indexing toolbar pop-tips for a modest £9.99. BPCW

8 www.pcw.co.uk 143

HANDS ON SPREADSHEETS

Stephen Wells is a freelance
journalist and a regular contributor to
computer magazines. He's been writing
PCW's Spreadsheets column for over
10 years.

-> Comments welcome on the
Spreadsheets column.
Email spreadsheets® pew. co ok
Please do not send unsolicited
file attachments.

Groovy graphs in Excel

How to spice up your spreadsheets with impressive-looking graphs

Emma Lynch contacted us to say:
" 1 1 "s a pity Excel doesn't offer a
thermometer chart as we'd like
to he a hit- prim one for out dub
notice hoard showing our progress in
collecting El. 000 for charity."

No problem, Emma. It's easy to
create one. On a clean worksheet
enter 900 in cell Al. Format the cell as
Currency, no decimals. Click cell Al
and press the I unci ion key, PI 1. You'll
now have a simple single-column
chart, on a new sheet called Chart I,
with £0 to £1,000 as the y-axis, the
vertical axis on the left-hand side. This
axis will automatically be stepped in
£100$: £100, £200, and soon.

Right-click on the Series I box on
the right-hand side and choose Delete.
Right-click on the y-axis and change
the font, its size, and to bold. Right -
click on the y-axis again, select
Format Axis and change the
stepping units if you wish - you
could change it to £50, for
example. Also, although the
y-axis options automatically go
from to 1,000, it's important to
re-enter these as Fixed Options
or they will change when you
enter values less than 900 and
mess everything up.

Right-click on tile x-axis,
choose Format Axis and the set
Axis labels to None. To reduce
the width of the column to look
more like a thermometer, right -
click on it. Select Format Data
Series and change Gap Width to
60. This expands the column to
almost fill the Chart Area. From
the centre-bottom of the column
raise it tip so there is a good space
between the bottom of the Plot
Area and the bottom of the Chart
Area. If you click at the centre-
right of the Chart Area you can
drag to the left and reduce the
column width.

A different way to
show a breakdown
of a financial total

Create a moveable
thermometer chart
in Excel

ti,ooo

£700

£50O

1400

U«:J=Hill

£10,000
£3.000
0,000

H33737W

OuM

U.Vn,

Assets

(7,000

it 31-1-200*
OOffi

£6.000

(1,500 £1,500

£5,000

■ |

£1.M0

u.ooo

0,000

090

0,000

ctooo

GOO

^ _ UiU

■__^ two

■

inn

■

Lni WnoCte* Lot)
mango**

ftuttl Ifrrentonn Accounts Future* i Ccih
NUcNncry Rtcvkvrtta Front*

Insert an oval shape at [he
bottom of the thermometer while

holding down the Shilt key. This
produces a circle you can drag into
the correct position. Right-click on the
column and change ilk cnloui to ,i
dark orange. Repeat in the circle
shape. Also, right -click in the circle
and choose Format Shape and select
No Line.

You tan now return to tell A i
Sheet l, change the value to say 300,
to see the result as in screen I. Atid
that solves your dilemma, Emma.

A concertina

While on the subject, let's look at
some other unusual chart formats.
For instance, there are many ways to
chart the constituent parts oi a total
but a concertina chart (see s< reen 2i.
works particularly well it you're
creating a slideshow. You can
display the parts progressively, slide
by slide. The example shows a
breakdown of a company's £9m in
assets. f:3,5m are in intangibles like-
its trademarks and patents. The rest
are split between land, plant and
machinery, inventories, accounts
receivable, fixtures and linings,
and cash.

The labels to run along the
horizontal axis can be entered in
A2:AI0 with their equivalent amounts
in C2:C10. To create the chart some
parts of the columns need to be blank
and some parts displayed. Zero is
entered in cells B2, B4 and B10. B2
has =C2-C3. B5 has =C4-C5. B6 has
=B5-C6. Drag this formula down
toB9.

Highlight D2:FlO and create a
slacked column chart. Right-click on
the legend displayed at the right of the
chart and choose Delete.

Right-click on the lower part of the
Less intangibles column. Then select
Format Data Series, Fill, No fill. This
clears all the lower parts of six of the
nine columns. Mow right -click at the
top of one of the columns and choose,
Add Data Labels. Drag each label to a
position just above its column.

Select Insert, Shapes, Line. Hold
down the Shift key and you can draw
horizontal lines and drag them into
position between the columns.

How you dress up the chart is up to
you. In the example (see screen 2), the
title was produced using Wordart.
Finally, right-click on each axis, the
chart area and the plot area, and
format in your chosen style.

144

www.pcw.co.uk

MORE HANDS ON SPREADSHEETS

Go to www.pcw.co.uk/tags/spreadsheets

SPREADSHEETS < HANDS ON

A double pie

Another way of showing the same
information is a pie of pie chart. It
makes it easier it you rearrange the
data. In the range A I :A7 enter
Fixtures & Fittings, Accounts
Receivable, Cash, Inventories, Plain
& Machinery, Land, and Intangibles
For each category, enter in lil:B7
the same values as used in the
concertina chart.

Highlight the range A 1:87 and
choose Insert, Chan, Pie of Pie,
Drag each side ol the chart oul to
increase the overall size. Right-click
on the legend and choose Delete.
Right-click on the large pie and click
Add Data Labels. Right-click again
and select Format Data Series. Under
Series Options, select Split Scries by
Value. Then enter 3500 in the
'Second plot contains all values less
than' field.

Right-click on the large pie
again and click Format Data Labels.
Under Label Contains, check the
boxes lor Category Name, Value,
and Show Leader Lines. Choose
Number, Currency with no decimal
places. For label position select
Outside End.

Right-click on a label and choose
Font. The example shown here uses
Ariel Black, I Opt, Regular. Now drag
the labels so they are in mure suitable
positions. Click on the label that by
default reads Other and edit it to read
Tangibles.

Finally, add a Word art title as
before and the result shoidd look like
screen 3.

A comparison chart

Is there any correlation between the
price of high -deli nition camcorders
and their weight? Here's a neat chart
to make a comparison (see screen 4).

" H^lddJg

r,,zc

tfe

bM«

3 —

t«t an

»« 3W «• S»

Convert a chart to a graphic

If you want to save an

JPG", "JPG"

Excel chart as a gtaphic

[Key ,.p,li- Hi iiiy.iv'ill <m

for use in a web page, in

Press Enter and,

a slide or other

instead of Chart 1 , type

document, it's quite easy.

whatever name you wish

Many people save it to

to use for the graphic

the Clipboard and then

file. Instead of both

paste it into a graphics

instances of JPG you can

program, but it's faster to

enter the extensions of

export an Excel chart as a

any of the other graphics

graphics file.

filters available in

Select the chart and

Microsoft Office, such as

press Alt & F11 to open

BMP or GIF. Press Alt &

the V8A for Excel editor

F11 again to return to

Press Ctrl & G to open

your spreadsheet.

the Immediate window

The new file will be in

and type:

the C:\Documents and

ActiveChart.*

5ettings\Uset\My

Export "C:Chart1..

Documents directory.

Finer I he names nl sis camcorders
in the range 02 to D7. Enter their
weight in grams in 132:137 and their
price in C2:C7. in cell A2 enter:
=A2£REPT{ CHAR (160), ROUNDUP
(12-LEN(A2)/2,0))

(Key: £ cikIc sliLUL^onrinLiL'v;.

This will ensure thai the names ol
lilt camcorders will he centred in the
middle of [he chart. Highlight the

Another way of
charting a
breakdown of
company assets

H«:H=IJI=I

Ablets

Compare camcorders for weight and prtce

range A2:B7 and press Pll. Right-click
on the Chart Area and choose Change
Chart Type. Choose the first Bar lype.
Clustered Bar, Right -click on the
Legend and click Delete.

Right-click on the left of the Chart
Area and selecl Formal Chan Area.
Then selecl Border Colour, No Line.
Hold down Shift and, from a corner of
the chan, reduce its size. Then click
outside the chart.

Now start to drag the chart to the
right and then bold down Shift & Ctrl
as you continue the movement. This is
fiddly, but means you'll get two copies
of the chan on the screen.

On the new copy of the chart, to
the left ol the screen, right-click on
the vertical axis (the names of the
camcorders) and click Delete.
Righi-elick on this chart, choose
Select Data and highlight the data
range C2:C7. This will chart the
prices on the left against the weights
on the right.

Rigbl-click the horizontal axis on
the left chart, click Format Axis and
then check ihe box Values in Reverse
Order. This Hips the bars so they run
from the right and not the left. Hold
down Shift so the chan only moves in
otie direclion at once, then slide the
copy of the chart up to the original so
the names of the camcorders are
between the two halves of the
comparison chart.

By right-clicking to turn on each
horizontal axis you can now format
them appropriately lor currency on
the [eft, and numbers ol grams on the
right. And you can format both axes
for font, size arid weight. Format the
camcorder names in a Fixed width foul
like Courier New, Lastly, add titles in
text boxes.

The comparison chan clearly points
up that, although overall the heavier
camcorders lend to be the more
expensive, between models there are
visible inconsistencies. PCW

•' www.pcw.co.uk

145

HANDS ON > SOUND

Niall Magennis has been

dabbling in Midi and digital audio since the
days of the Atari ST. He writes for a number
of music magazines and lives In London In a
flat overrun with music equipment.

-> Comments welcome on the
Sound column. It returns In the May
issue Email sound@pcwxo.uk
Please do not send unsolicited file
attachments.

WMP11 tips and tricks

You don't have to put up with the aggravating quirks of Microsoft's media player

Windows Media Player
(WMP) came in for a
lot of stick when it was
in in id need in 200O for
its cluttered interface and all-round
clumsy design. Over time tilings have
improved greatly and, while there are
still areas of WMP 1 1 that could do a
with a clean-up, most of us can now
live with, if not quite love, its
combination of features and foibles,
liven though it's a program that
gets brought out on a daily basis, many
people still don't know the best
shortcuts to use, how to turn specific
features on and off, and how- to
circumvent some of its more annoying
quirks. In this column we're giving
you a rundown of the top tips and
tricks to lame the WMP 1 1 beast.

Many WMP 1 1 users are tripped up
by its default selling for ripping music
tracks. It's only when they try to
transfer tracks to a portable music
player that they discover WMP has
ripped their music to Microsoft's WMA
format rather than MPJ.

To change this, just go to the Tools
menu, select Options and then click on
the Rip Music tab. Under the Rip
Settings heading, change the formal to
MP3, and then push the audio quality

E33HZH

;g=~- 1

slider from I2S to I yZKbils/sec. h will
increase the size of lipped tiles, hut
will also greatly boost the quality of
tin compressed audio (see s< teen I !.

This isn't [he only problem that
arises from Microsoft pushing its own
formats. While WMP I I makes it very
easy to create a playlist - all yon have
Lo do is drag and drop tracks into the
Now Playing pane (right -click on the
Now Playing tab and select Show List
Pane to view it) - it saves playlisls in
Microsoft's -wpl format by default.

This is line if you're only going to
use your playlisls on your PC. but it
you want to use them on a portable
music player or music phone, the

Don't like WMA?
Then set Windows
Media Player to
default to MPS

format isn't generally recognised. It's
best to use the most widely supported
playlist format instead, which is ,rn3u.

To save a playlist in .m3u format,
click on the Playlist button in the list
pane and select Save Playlist As. In the
File box l hat appears, change the
setting in the Save As Type box from
WPL to M3U. Problem solved.

Feature shift

When Microsoft upgraded WMP 10 to
WMP 1 1, it llummoxed many users by
removing the internet radio feature
Irom the software. In reality, il hadn't
done anything of the son -all it did
was remove the dedicated internet
radio tab from I he main interlace and
hide it in the Online Stores section.

To access il, right -click on the WMP
1 1 title bar. select View, then Online
Sli>rcs and [hen Media Guide. Ne\l
click on the Radio link and select
Radio Tuner. You may be asked lo
install an ActiveX applet: just click OK,
Once the Radio Tuner appears you Can
browse stations by category or simply
by performing a text search for them.

When you've got WMP 1 1 open
you'll often want il to sit prominently
in the foreground so you can have
easy access to its controls. But by

Assign command and control of WMP functions to shortcut icons

Windows Media Player can be controlled through command-line
instructions. For example, you can instruct it to open on a specific tab,
start up and play a specific playlist, or immediately copy tracks from a
CD. These commands and more can be placed in a shortcut and
activated simply by double-clicking on the shortcut icon

To set up a command shortcut, right-click on the shortcut you use
to launch WMP 11 and then select Properties. In the Target field, add
the command to the end of the shortcut. For example, the shortcut
probably currently reads C:\Program Files\ Windows Media
Player\wmplayer.exe. To start the player and play a playlist called
Thekillers, you'd change this to C:\Program FilesS Windows Media
Player\wmplayer.exe /Playlist Thekillers.

Here's a list of the most useful command-line instructions for
Windows Media Player:

Play an audio CD: /device:audio CD

Open WMP in Now Playing screen: /Task NowPlaying

Open WMP in Media Guide screen: /Task McdiaGuidc

Open WMP in the Rip screen: /Task CDAudio

Open WMP in the Bum screen: /Task CDWritc

Open WMP in the Library screen: /Task Library

Open WMP in Sync screen: /Task PortableDevice

Open WMP and play the specified playlist: /Playlist PlaylistName

Open WMP showing the specified media category:

/S ch e m a:{ M u s i d P ietu resl Vid eoff VIO ther}

146

www.pcw.co.uk

MORE HANDS ON SOUND Co to
www.pcw.co.uk/tags/sound

SOUND < HANDS ON

Wore power, more speed

ATOW >IWH HP D iln u l m iiil K

default WMP 1 1 behaws like any other
open window, and goes behind other
windows when you click on them.

To change this, click on the Tools
menu and select Options. In the
window [hat appears, click on the
Player tab, lick the box marked 'Keep
the Player on tup of other windows'
and click OK. WMP 1 1 will now always
he visible while open {see screen 2),

Quiet Mode and SRS

WMP I I also has two features that arc
often overlooked or misunderstood:
Quid Mode and SRS Wow effects,
both on the Enhancements menu.
Quiet Mode is useful if yon want to
watch a video on your PC at night
when you don't want to have to
constantly turn the volume up and
down as the sound rises during action
scenes and falls during moments ol
quieter dialogue. Quiet Mode reduces
the gap between loud and soft sounds
so tlie volume level remains more
even. To enable it, just click Oil Views,
select Enhancements and then Quiet

WMP 11 car be
instructed to stay
on top of other
windows

Mode. Click on the Tnrn On button
and then choose between Medium
Difference or Little Difference (the
former is more aggressive in the u-.iv it
equals out volume levels).

SRS effects, on the other hand, are
useful tor adding a bit more stereo
width and bass to music when you're
using smaller speakers, such as those
built-in to a computer monitor.

To access SRS effects, click on
Views, select Enhancements and then
select SRS Wow Effects. Click the Turn
On button to activate the eflccts and
use the Speaker toggle to choose the
type oi speakers you are using.

The Trubass slider controls bow
much bass enhancement is added,
with small speakers it's best not to go
overboard, but just use a small amount
ol enhancement to add .i bit oi oomph
to your music.

The Wow effect broadens the
apparent stereo width of your music.
It's best to set up the effect while
you've got some music playing so you
can hear in real time [he changes it
makes to your audio. Again, don't go

overboard with il because toi cli

can make your music sound overly
processed, lint a small amount of Wow
really can make the audio from yom
speakers sound wider and more
expansive (see screen '5).

Stuttering streams

If you've got a slovv internet connection
or are having otie of those days where
your broadband link seems to be
pushing data through in fits and starts,
then you'll find that streaming media
tends to stutter as the connection
struggles to keep pace with the
required throughput. Sometimes you
can gel around the issue by tipping
WMP I I "s buffer size. The butter stores
a small amount of data to compensate
for breaks in I lie traffic stream, so if a
connection is congested for one of two
seconds and the buffer is set to four

Above: Careful use of the SRS Wow effect
can make smaller speakers sound better

Right: Extending the buffer can Improve
performance

Hotkeys in WMP

Keyboard shortcuts can speed
up control of Windows Media
Player 1 1 and can be especially
useful if your keyboard doesn't
have dedicated media keys.

Track control

Play/ Pause:

Stop:

Skip to previous track

Skip to next track:

Rewind:

Fast forward

Ctrl & P
Ctrl &S
Ctrl & B
Cm &F
Ctrl & Shift & B
Ctd & Shift & F

Repeat current track: Ctrl & T
Playback speed

Fast:

Ctrl & Shift & G

Normal:

Ctd & Shift & N

Slow:

Ctri & Shift & S

Volume

control

Louder:

Softer:

Mute:

Views

Full mode: Ctrl & 1

Skin mode: Ctrl & 2

Hide/Show menu bars: Ctd & M

seconds, you shouldn't notice any
break in playback. Naturally, if the
congestion lasts for more than four
seconds, then the buffer will run dry
and playback will stop.

To adjust the buffer in WMP 11,
click on the Tools menu, select Options
and then click on the Performance tab.
Under the Network Buffering section,
tick the Buffer radio button and enter
a larger number than the default in
the box.

It's best to increase the buffer in
small increments because it increases
the amount of time WMP 1 1 has to
wait before it starts playing a stream,
and il makes slightly more useol disk
space. But il you're having severe
problems getting a clean audio stream
from an internet site or radio station
it's worth tinkering with the butter
setting to see if you can impntve
performance (see screen 4).

WMP I I may not be the most
straight forward or easiest to use media
player around, but as it's built into
Windows it's the one that gets used
most. Armed with these tips and tricks
you'll be able to get a bit more otil ol it
and avoid some of its more annoying
elements. PtW

www.pcw.co.uk 147

HANDS ON NETWORKS

Alan Stevens has implemented and

-> Comments welcome on the

supported networks for over 25 years.

Networks column.

working for IT vendors, system integrators

Email network5@pcw.co uk

and customers. He now mostly researches

Please do not sund unsolicited

and writes about networking matters.

file attachments.

Synchronise your files

How Synctoy can keep all your PCs singing from the same hymn sheet

I often get emails asking whether it's
possible to synchronise data that
needs to he held on more than one
PC. Out' such email comes from
reader fan I Stoke, who writes: "1
recently networked two PCs (one
running XP Pro, the other XP Home).
However, we don't leave the PCs on all
the time and tend only to power up
the most convenient (one's upstairs,
one down). I've resorted to keeping
two copies of some folders so that my
wife can access her files from either.

"This leads to the problem of
maintaining file synchronisation
between the two machines. What f
need is a simple program that will look
at similar folders on both machines,
check for identically named files and
identify where there is a difference
between them, then update the oldest
version (plus copy across any newly
created Filesl. Ideally, I'd like it to be
freeware. Any suggestions?"

One solution is to use a Windows
utility from Microsoft called Synctoy.
Available for tree download, Synctoy is
expressly designed to handle the
situation that Paul describes. Synctoy
can also synchronise the contents of
any two folders whether on PCs,
notebooks, servers or storage devices,
and so can be used for other purposes,
such as taking backups.

Getting Synctoy

First grab a copy of the Synctoy setup
program from the Microsoft website
(http://sniputl.tom/7t1ks) and it's also on
this month's cover disc. The latest v2
release Is available for both 32-bil and
64-bit versions of Windows XP or
Vista. It's not very big (the 32-blt
version is just 4MB).

Installation takes just a couple of
minutes; the setup program also
installs the Microsoft Sync Framework
needed to support the tool. However,
the program only has to be installed

UJtlddMI

WekoTre ID SyncTor

on one of the PCs you want to Synctoy can be

synchronise, although they do have used to synchronise

to be networked together. That's the contents of any

because Synctoy works by two folders, which

synchronising the contents of any two are referred to as
folders, which can be on the same PC Left and Right

or network shares hosted by other
systems on the I. .in.

To make it clear what's going on.
the two folders are called I. eh and
Right, as in screen I, which is what
you see when Synctoy first starts. It
may look like it wants to synchronise
the My Pictures folder, hut you can
ignore that - it's just a suggestion.

Using Synctoy

In our example I've started Synctoy
and clicked on Create New Polder
Pair, using the wizard to browse to
the folders [ want to synchronise. For
the Left folder I've selected my local
My Documents folder; for the Right
folder I've chosen one I've called
Alansyuc. located on a remote
network share (see screen 2). This
share happens to be 011 a storage Synchronising

appliance but it could easily be on the local My

another Windows PC. Documents folder

You then get three choices tor how with another on a
the contents of the folder should be network share

synchronised (see screen J):
Synchronize, Echo or Contribute.

Synchronize copies the new and
updated Files saved in either (older to
the oilier. II lilesare renamed 01
deleted in a Folder, those actions are
likewise duplicated in both directions.

Echo is very similar to Synchronize
except litat new and updated files are
copied in one direction only, Iront Left
to Right. File renames and deletions
made in the Left folder only are also
repli Ltued in the Right folder.

Contribute is the same as Echo
except that file deletions are not
replicated.

In Paul's case, the delault option.
Synchronize, is probably the best, as
anything done on either of his PCs will
then be replicated on the other.

Echo, meanwhile, is what yon
might use il you had a notebook and
regularly picked up documents and
files away from home or the office and
needed to copy them to a desktop PC
or network share on your return. You
could also use Echo to keep a security
backup of a folder.

Similarly, Contribute could be used
to take backups and may be better
than Echo in that files in the backup
won't ever be deleted. Alternatively,
yon may have a USB memory key or
Flash memory card you want to
synchronise and don't want to
duplicate deletions that you made just
because you'd run out of space and

Cr*M*Hfmii*lMt\>»*\i mt If

SCREEN 2

I *"*"• J

| fr— ..

■*■'" • | '"»•-

www.pcw.co.uk Man

MORE HANDS ON NETWORKS Go to
www.pcw.co.uk/tags/networks

NETWORKS < HANDS ON

■UfoVM

Left: There are
three different
ways in which the
Left and Right
folders can tie
synchronised

Below: Before
running a
synchronisation,
you can preview
the result

l-l~Jt-LiMJffi|

bad to get rid of a tew files. The files
aren't deleted, just moved to the
Recycle Bin from where they can be
recovered - unless you empty it.
However, you'll only ever lind deleted
files in the Recycle Bin of the PC
running Synctoy, even il llie loldcrs
being synchronised are on another PC
or server altogether

A number of other options are also If you try to install
available. For example, you can the LLTD

c boose to In clu d e or e x clu d e files using Responderona
wildcard strings and screen out read- Windows server

only, hidden and system files. You can you'll get this error
also choose to keep the old version Oi
any lile thai gets overwritten by a
newer update, with the older file being
saved in the Recycle (Jin.

It's even possible to check the
contents of files before they're
synchronised. This can help to avoid
problems where, for example, you
have files with the same name, size
and date in Lett and Right folders, but
whose contents are different.

[laving set the options you want,
you can then choose cither to run
the synchronisation Job or preview it
to sec what the results would be

without actually changing anything Edit the properties

( see screen 4 1 . oftheLLTD

And that's really all Ihere is to it. responder update

Synctoy simply gets on with the job of program to fool it
synchronising the folders you've Into thinking It's

specified whenever you want. Of installing itself on

course, you don't have to stick with an XP PC

just the one pair of folders. Multiple

pairs can he configured, with each pair
being assigned a unique name and
replicated as find when required.

Scheduling Synctoy

l nfoi tunately, there's no lai iiiiv to
schedule synchronisation jobs in
Synctoy, Inn that cm be overcome
using Windows Task: Scheduler,
Details of how to go about this in
I it ii 1 1 Windows XI' snd Vista are to be
found in [lie Syncto) helptile. bin in
essence you need to schedule a
separate command-line version of
Synctoy (SyncToyCmd.exe) with an
extra command string appended to it.
in I la- form:

C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0\ t
SyncToyCmd.exe -R "Folder pair"

(Key: tf cull siiin.i ...iiiiiiuH'si

'Folder pair" is the name of the
folder pair yon want to use. II not
specified, all the folder pairs you've
i reated « ill be synchronised

LLTD responder

Another issue I came across the other
day relates to installing the LLTD (Link
Layer topology Discovery! responder
on Windows Server 200 J and
Windows Home Server (WHS}, which
is based on I In- same OS.

The I.I I'D rest Hinder is .1
networking protocol that allows
Windows PCs to be included in the
graphical network, maps that can be
created by Windows Vista. It's built
into Vista as standard and Windows
Server 2008 but not older Windows
versions although you can download a
responder for Windows XP from
h ttp ://sup port . m ic rosof t.co m /kb /922 1 2 .

mridJJM

TItp rorafcn of Wrtdcurt You h*v»in*jlBd riOM rot *Mbh*r updat* irtu *v tFVCC to

Unfortunately, this update can only
be installed on Windows XP and even
then only the 32-bit version. II you try
to run it on a Window's Server 200 J or
WHS system you're told the operating
system isn't supported (see screen 5).
The way to get around this problem is
by manually installing the update.

What yon do is download the XP
responder from the link above and
start to install il on your server until
you get the error message. At this
point leave the error on the screen
(don't click OK to dismiss it just yet)
then have a took in drive C: for the
temporary installation folder the setup
program will have created. It'll have a
fairly obvious and very long numeric
name; on my test server it was called
I e b 1 4 Occbad 5 6 1 3 3270 ec-e 5 f ee 3 1 4,
but it will be something else on yours.

Copy all the files in this temporary
folder to another of your own (one
will be in use, so ignore it} then click
on the OK button to dismiss the error
message.

That done, open the folder and
browse to the update.exe file, which
you'll find in a sub-folder similarly
called Update, Right-click and select
Properties, then click on the
Compatibility lab. Select the option
marked 'Run this program in
compatibility mode for', and alongside
choose Windows XP. Click OK and you
should now be able to run the update
on your Windows Server as though it
were an XP PC.

On a real Windows XP system,
that's all you have 10 do, but oil a
server there's a little bit more. You'll
also need to add LLTD as a protocol on
the network interlace, which you do
hy opening Control Panel, selecting
Network Connect ions and opening the
properties of the Local Area
Connection or any other connection
you want to modify.

From the General tab you next
need to click on the Install button.
Select Protocol and click Add. From the
Select Network Protocol window
displayed, you should then click Have
Disk, then browse 10 the folder to
which you copied the XP responder
package earlier. In this you should find
a path to SP2GDR.\ip, which contains a
file called rspndr.inf. It's this you want,
so select it and click OK,

You should then see the Link Layer
Topology Discovery responder listed.
Select il, click OK and you're done.
Windows Server should now be
correctly discovered and displayed in
Vista network maps. PCW

8 www.pcw.co.uk 149

HANDS ON > DATABASES

Mark Whitehorn is one of

-> Comments welcome on the

those lost souls who actually likes

Databases column.

databases. He splits his time between

Email database® pew. co uk

consultancy, writing, working for two

Please do not -send unsolicited

universities and tinkering with old cars.

file attachments.

From Access to SQL Server

How upsizing can affect VB code in forms, and using Access to manipulate SQL Server

A ample of months BgO, after
demonstrating due diligence
(that is, consulting the
leadership), I decided u>
take a look at connecting from Access
to SQL Server.

There are essentially three choices.

First, yon can use Access to connect
to an existing SQL Server database.
This allows you to use Access to build
forms, run queries, and add and modify
data bm doesn't let yon modify the data
structure (add new tallies arid so on).

Second, yon can upsi7e an existing
Access database to a SQL Server
database.

Or third, you can use Access to
manipulate both the data and the data
structure.

In the Christmas issue 1 looked at
first option and since I'd already
covered upsizing (the second option)
extensively, I said that I didn't intend
to go into much detail. However, Nigel
Hick then wrote in and raised an
important point: could upswing an
Access database to SQL Server 2005
affect the VB code in forms?

Upsizing issues

ll is an excellent point, VII code may
behave as before - and the simpler the
code, the more chance it has of doing
so - but even forms without code can
exhibit a different behaviour when the
database is upsized.

Wtui yH 5«fw would >«■-. » Jt ts u» tor Ev» rWifcwU

FixiH tjMctj 1*i* kogn D him p— iinnf. of m lanuY with

p LJM TrvPw] Ctrnr^an**

wt* rib r*i mmc la mxtm ytut ram SQL Saw &u*mmi

|- m ff**i<JL

!_l_

Here you Identify
your SQL Server
Installation

Browsing to a
location to save
your database also
lets you make it a
project file

bNddJHI

Blank Database

Create a Microsoft Office Access database that does not
contain any existing data or objects.

File Name:

||)atabase2,accdb _J

C:\Dooirnents

Browse for a location to put your database

Create

Cancel

For example, both Access and SQL
Server ijave a Yes^No field. Access

allows only two values; Yes and No,
with No .is the default. SQL Server
allows ill Hi- Yes/Nn/Null. and the
default value is Null.

w r ere correctly entered), but now it's a
recipe for disaster. If the administrators
go on entering data in the same way as
they are used to, everyone will be
allocated to the female wards
irrespective of gender.

It is worth noting that the problem
has arisen here because the original
code made assumptions about the
range ol values that are possible in a
Yes/No held, specifically that il it
wasn't No it had to be Yes. That was a
reasonable assumption under Access
but is not so under SQL Server.
Developers should, of course, always
write code that makes no assumptions
about anything, hut in practice this is
almost impossible.

The bottom line is that you need to
be very careful when upsizing from
Access to SQL Server.

'VB code may behave as before, but even
forms without code can exhibit a different
behaviour when the database is upsized'

Now imagine an Access-based
patient record system in a hospital, ll
has a form with a Yes/No field labelled
Tenia le'. if it contains a Yes, we
assume the patient is lemalej if No, we
assume male. The default in Access is
No, so the administrators are used to
entei ing a value onh il ihe new
patient is [emale.

The tirsl problem is that when we
iipsi/e the default changes to Null, so
we suddenly have a whole clutch ol
patients with no gender recorded.

That's bad and Vli can make il
worse. Suppose we have some VB
code thai looks al the value in this
field: if it finds a No, it allocates the
patient to a male ward, otherwise il
allocates the patient to a female ward.

This code was fine in the original
version [assuming that lemale patients

Access project files

This month we'll take a look at using
Access lo manipulate both the data
and structure in SQL Server (the third
and final option) and use an Access
project file to do so. As a general rule
you will need a version of Access that
is more recent than the version of SQL
Server; here I'll use Access 2007 and
SQL Server 2005. Older Access versions
will happily connect to younger SQL
Server versions to manipulate the daia
but ttie combination of Access 2003
and SQL Server 2005 lhat I used in the
Christmas issue won't work now we
want il' create a new data mmkiiuc

Pi re up Access and select New
Blank Database. In the right-hand
pane a default filename is shown with
the accdb extension for a normal
database Hie, We want a project file so,

150

www.pcw.co.uk

MORE HANDS ON DATABASES Go to
www.pcw.co.uk/tags/databases

DATABASES HANDS ON

with sublime disregard for intuitive
use, you click on the tiny folder icon to
the right ('Browse for a location to put
your database', see screen 1 ).

tn the Kile New Database window
you can change the filename ii yon
wish (I'm using AccessTest) and
choose a project tile by pupping down
[he list of file types, selecting Microsoft
Office Access Projects (*adp, and
clicking OK. Hack on the Getting
Started screen, click Create. When
you're asked whether yon want to
connect to an existing SQL Server
database, answer No.

A dialogue opens asking 'Wh.it SQL
Server would you like to use lor this
database?' (see screen 2). It wants the
name of the server to which you want
to connect. You can use the server
name or type:
(local)

if the server is on the same machine at
which you are typing (but see below
lor more on this).

The letters SQL. have been added to
the lilename yon specified. Click Next
and then Finish in the final dialogue.
A progress bar is displayed while the
project is created.

You're now in Access with
everything looking normal, except lor
the word 'Project' in the header at the
top of the ribbon. But differences will
Start to appear as you work, so create a
new Customer table. Enter a column
name - CustomerlD - and move on to
setting its data type. The list of
available types is much fonger than
the usual Access one, with many
unfamiliar entries (see screen 3). It's
the first real indication we are using
Access as a window into SQL Server.

Differences continue to appear: the
CustomerlD column is lo be the
primary key column in this table, but
if you click the I'rimary Key button an

Tahiti

UdrlJdJl

►

GpfcHNifftmi

D*"Trt»

Lfogch Alow Hulk

CustenwUl

■

511 v/

to.*
'■■,>r

M —
MfM

num*K

rtal

nnHi .

error message appears, saying 'Primary
key cannot be created on column
'Customer!!)' because it allows null
values'. Sure enough, the Allow Nulls
column in the table design view has
been checked automatically. Why?
Because lhat's the default in SQL
Server. You have lo deselect the Allow
Nulls setting before you can make the
column a primary key column.

Add a lew more columns to the
table, name it and save it: mine is
called Customer and has CusiomerlU,
First Name and LastKame columns, all
of data type char (short for 'character';
I'll look at data types in more detail in
a future column). You have just
created a table in SQL Server. Add a
lew records to it and then we'll see

The list of data
types In SQL Server
Is much longer than
i n Access

The design view of
designing a view

H«:<=HJM

™ ww»

*> Himwafl sqi Servn H wqt-mptit SJutflp H SCREEN 4

He EdC Vtew Project Query Oesqner Tom ^WkJow Cannnrty Hefa

jNWQuwy _■_. Lj_,_, . . 4 _ X-

1 CNngeTYI*" ' !f t 2 *j M

bji' '■ 1 fl ' V i'»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»B^B T.I* . ribaCuUMIerl Swmwy • x

ojwbi- J: J Cuaumm Ptiffla™ Us3ta™

oeEOOSQL Server 9.0.l3$9'»eCli\M«M _»
■ ■ 5yK2fn GaQteses

3 ._ Enc . Penr^*

■aotntaKSMpMH

■

MAC MJtl itSAl

| tacsTesSQL

■ _j Ds&biiss Dagrafm

- ^Tates

*• _j System. Titfcl

k.*A*?-;*Li?l

■ ******

- M Scrvn Brakor

■ _i Storage

» _j Securty

lit t 2 «3 t H ►

RMOV

How your first SQL
Server table looks
from within SQL
Server Itself

how it looks in SQL Server itself.
Fire up SQL Server and in the
navigation pane look in Databases to
find AccessTestSQL, Under Tables
you should see an object called
dbo. Customer. It's your new SQL Server
table: right -click on it, select Open
Table and there it is, records and all.

Querying in SQL Server

One area where further differences are-
apparent is in querying. Access stores
queries locally; SQL Server stores them
on the server as views.

l.et's build a simple view. Return to
Access and click the Query Wizard on
the Create tab. The New Query
window displays six types uf query,
none of them Familiar. 'Design View'
(remembering thai "view' is SQL
Server-speak for query) is the easiest
place to start. Select it and a query
builder opens that's not too dissimilar
to the one in Access except that the
columns and row in the query grid are
switched around. Add the tables you
wish to use, here our Customer table.
We'll look for all customers called
Fred, so click the check boxes
alongside FirstName and LastName in
the Customer table to include these
columns in the query grid. In the
Criteria column for FirstName, type:

=fred

It will lie automatically tidied to:

= 'fred'

Then Save the view (see screen 5),
click I he View or Run billion and Fred
Smith will be located.

(Local) difficulty

Frank Kavauagh emailed, having met
some resistance when using '(local)' to
name the server. Frank reported that
using '(local)' didn't work using
SQLExpress and alter experimenting
wilh different configurations he tried
' C om p u terNam e/ S QlJix p ress' in stea d
of '(local)' and it worked. He said: "1
am using Access 2003 and SQL Server
2005 and I know there are different
local machine settings that affect these
things and it is not practical to go into
them all, so 1 don't know why it
worked but it did."

I don't know why it worked either,
but it's certainly worth trying if (local)
gives you grief.

End note

Mark Whiiehorn lias written this
column lor the past 1 5 years and great
Fun il's been too. The besl bits are
available in a book: visit
www.penguinsoft.co.uk for details. PCW

8 www.pcw.co.uk 151

HANDS ON VISUAL PROGRAMMING

Tim Anderson is an IT journalist
and software developer, and began writing
for PCW in 1993. Since his first Commodore
Pet, he has acquired expertise In Rad
programming, Windows and the Internet.

-> Comments welcome on the
Visual programming column.

Email visual@pcw.co.uk
Please do not send umolicited
file attachments.

Mesh takes Silverlight offline

Silverlight plus Live Mesh brings the Microsoft cloud to the desktop

Late last year. Microsoft unveiled
various pieces of its cloud
computing strategy under the
overall name Windows Azure.
One of those pieces is the Live
Framework, which combines with
Silverlight to create a category oi
applications that blur the boundaries
between web and desktop. What
follows is a hands-on example with
some interesting features.

Tbe application runs either in the
browser (see screen I ] or on the
desktop (see screen 2j. It makes no
dillcreticc where it runs; it has access
to the same da la and services.

It runs online and offline. Within
reason, it works the same. Data
modified offline is automatically
synchronised when next connected.

If the application Is updated, all
instances on all computers arc-
automatically updated.

It should run on the Mac as well as
Windows, and maybe on Linux one
day, although in our tests even the
Mac version lailed.

When running on the desktop, it
uses the Silverlight runtime, rather
like the way AIR (Adobe Integrated
Runtime) uses Flash for desktop apps.

All this is promising, but it is early
days for Microsoft's effort. The current
Live Framework CIT? (Community
Tech Preview) is buggy and under-

I fr i Hti l

• - ?■•■

Hands On 5ilWfSahl H«h to an list
Aim*! *o ti*i hHHfeHkHlB

....,•■ -i

tblMt^NW.:

Running tbe Hands
On example In the
preview Mesh
desktop within a
browser

The same
application runs
as a desktop
application, even
though it is
Silverlight, which
normally requires a
web page

documented. Getting some of the
information means silting through
online videos or trawling forums.
Access requires a developer token -
issued in limited numbers- so
consider this a peek into the possible
future of Windows cloud applications,
rather than something useful now.

Getting started

This example is based nil a Live
Framework CTP, so rhe details are
subject to change, but it gives a good
idea of what's involved. The starling
point is to sign up lor the developer
preview of Live Mesh, which is at
http://developer.mesh-ctp.com.

If Microsoft allows, you will get a
developer token that lets you create
apps. Next, you need several pieces
installed, in Ibis order: Visual Studio
2008 Willi the Silverlight 2.0 SDK; the
Live Framework SDK (a XII 1 file which
you need to expand into your Program
Hles\ Microsoft SDKs folder); a setup
file called LiveFrameworkTools.msi (a
separate download), which modilies
Visual Studio to enable .Mesh projects;
and the Live Framework Client, which
you will need if yon want to try out
desktop applications.

This Live Framework Client is an

updated version of the existing Live-
Mesh that yon may have played with.
When first released. Live Mesh did
little more than synchronise files.
This new version supports
applications as well. Union una tely,
you cannot have the two side by side,
and they do not work against the
same data. This might mean using a
spare or virtual PC lor development.
You do not have to use Silverlight for
Mesh Explications- I Mere art a variety
of other options including plain web
applications - but it is a particularly
interesting possibility.

Starting a new project

A new Mesh project does not just live
in Visual Studio, it also has to be
uploaded to Microsoft's servers. This
involves visiting the Developer Portal
website and starting a new Live
Framework project there (see screen
3). Once created, the website invites
you to upload a package. This does not
yet exist, so it is lime- to tire up Visual
Studio, choose File, New Project, and
select a Visual Basic, Live Framework,
Silverlight Mesh-enabled application*

This wizard creates a Hello World
Silverlight application, but when you
hit debug you will see a difference.
Instead of running it in a web page.
Visual Studio displays a dialogue
telling you to upload a ZIP package to
the Developer Portal,

Click the shortcut to copy the pan
to the package, then go to tile project
page, click Browse to upload a package,
paste in the path, and upload it. Refresh
the page, and in the Web Site
Embedding section you will see a UR1
called Application Self Link. Copy this
URL, which represents the online
location ol the new app, back into the
Visual Studio dialogue and click UK.
Visual Studio Wtl] now update the
online version whenever you debug.

www.pcw.co.uk Man

MORE HANDS ON VISUAL PROGRAMMING Go to
www.pcw.co.uk/tags/visual_programming

VISUAL PROGRAMMING < HANDS ON

Writing the application

The application is like any other
Silver/light app except that it has access
to Mesh services. At heart. Mesh data
lives in collections of objects usually
published as RSS-like Atom feeds. The
Live Framework SDK includes .Net
libraries that wrap these feeds in
convenient .Net classes. However,
they are in a standard format, so in
principle you can code Mesh apps as
Javascript browser apps. or as Java,
Actionseiipt for Flash, or native
Windows applications.

This simple to-do list app (see
screen 41 needs .1 da la feed with text
entries. The code-behind file for the
Silvcrlighi page declares a global
variable representing this feed. In the
MeshAppLoaded event, it tries to
retrieve a reference to PCWListFeed.
and if it fails, it creates it. Here is the
code for creating the feed:
Dim meshApp As .
Mes liAppli cat ionSer vice = _
Application. Current. .
GetHestiApplicationService()
mesrtApp . DataFeeds . Add ( New
OataFeed ( "PCWLi stFeed" ) )
i Key: £ codCtttfiigcoftUniics)

Once created, the following code
retrieves a reference to the feed using
Una, (Language Integrated Query) and
stores it in the df global variable:
Dim mestiApp As
HeshApplicationService = t
Application .Current . v
GetHeshApplicationServicef)
df = (From dataFeed In meshApp.
CreateQuery(Of DataFeed) () _

Where dataFeed. Resource. Title
■ "PCTListFeed" _
Select dataFeed }.FirstorDefault

A Mesh application object also
represents a MeshObject, which has a
collection of feeds, with each feed
containing any number of items. The
code creates a feed dedicated to storing
items for our to-do list.

The Silverlight user interface has a
listbox, a te'xtbox, two buttons, and a
labei for status messages, all defined in
XAMI,. The following code adds an
item 10 the to-do list:
Private Sub AddListItem(ByVal ,
ItemName As String}
Try

If Not IsNothing{df) Then

df. DataEntries. Add(New
DataEntry{ ItemName) )

df. Updated

He.lbMessage.Text = "Entry .
added"

End If
Catch e As Exception

L-MtiddJfcl

The Azure
developer portal,
where you create
new projects and
manage their
deployment

He. lbMes sage. Text = e. Message
if Not .
IsNothing(e.InnerException) Then
He. lbMes sage. Text = e. Message
End If
End Try
End Sub

Catching every kind of exception
can be a useful debugging exercise. The
rest of the code is also straightforward.
Here is how 10 update the listbox:
Me. HyList. Items. Clear()
For Each de As DataEntry In n
df . DataEntries . Entries
He.HyLlst.lt ens. Add;
(de.ToString()}
Next

And this code deletes an item:
For Each de As DataEntry In v
df . DataEntries . Entries
If de.ToString = ItemName Then
df . DataEntries . Remove ( de)
df. Update()
Exit For
End If
Next

Deploying the application

Uploading the ZIP package which
Visii.il Studio builds deploys the to-do
list to Mesh. Next time anyone with

,m i".'. 10 1I1. 11 iipplicalio -, ii,

they get the updated version. Visual
Studio does ibis automatically
whenever yon debug, although this is
,1 debug build.

Working on the
Mesh Silverlight
application In
Visual Studio

So how would someone access
the app? The new Mesh desktop has
an Apps section with an Add
Applications link. Clicking the link
takes you to a catalogue oi
applications you can add to your
Mesh. Adding an app also adds a
desktop shortcut to a machine with.
the local Mesh client installed.

On the publisher side, the app's
visibility is controlled by the Developer
Portal, which has a Publish button.

Hands On with Mesh

Creating this simple Silverlight Mesh
app was a mixed experience. Selling
up for the CTP is tiddly, and
Microsoft makes it harder than it
needs to be with a labyrinth of
websites, a confusing token system,
and a lack of clear developer- focused
documentation.

There are also some puzzles. The
idea of Mesh is that you can work
offline and have everything auto-
synchronise when you reconnect.
There is provision for resolving
conflicts. When I pulled out the
network cable, ran the app from the
desktop, and modified the list, the app
raised an exception, although it also
successfully updated the list and
synchronised it later.

Microsoft is supporting Mesh
with an ambitious set of services,
including authentication, contacts,
calendars, image handling and
mapping. In principle this should be
suitable lor social apps ,'s well as
being useful in the Enterprise when
hooked up to Active Directory. The
offline story is great, as is the ability
10 run within the browser or on
the desktop.

Bui the key question is whether
the complexity ol the Mesh
infrastructure, whose reliability under
stress is unknown, is a price worth
paying for these additional features.
Synchronisation is a great thing when
you need it, but in some cases an
old- sly le web 01 Java application will
do just as well.

The Live Framework client, needed
ior offline use, is a big deployment
burden, and more intrusive and less
smooth than something like 1 fie flash
or Sitverlighl browser plug-in.

There is promise, but Microsoft has
a lot ol work to do before its cloud
computing approach will really appeal.

Resources

Live Framework home page:
http://dev.l ive,tom/l ivefra mewa tk pcw

8 www.pcw.co.uk 153

MICROMART > CALL 020 7316 9118

■v To advertise in Micromart call

x Clare Benson on 020 7316 9118

MICROMART

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

Cumsumables & Disc Media Hardware

Manx 155 Computer Bargains

Simply Solar 157

Data Recovery

Dataquest
Findmydata.co.uk

154

155

PC Connection

Web Hosting

UK Host

156
154

155

E-Commerce

EKM Powershop

154

We Make IT Easy

Al PC Connexion and MacCcr-iectiom., we
underhand Ihere's a lot more !o 1 1 than jus)
technology Thai's why we work dosely wirh you
bcfoit, during, and after eveiy purchase lo make
sure you gel exactly what you need, when you need iL

A Taste of What We Provide;

- Camp-p litive LIS prices
■ Over IS0 r 000 products ■ M0G+ brands

- Knowledgeable Acccm mi Manager

- Lxperl technical support
* Rapid, dependable delivery
Visit us online to find some of
the best IT deals out there!

PC Connection" MacConiiectioJi'

■'WVJtj

'TV M'JTff

.:.--■!< 1 -v.- ■ 1- H, ■*■■ ■

CALL NOW FOR A FREE QUOTATION

0845 200 9241

Qpree Diagnosis ^o^
Q No-Fix No-Fee

Rapid Response
Q Fixed Costs
QNo Hidden Charges

www. dq-lnt.co.uk

CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS

154

www.pcw.co.uk

■v To advertise in Micromart call
~7 Clare Benson on 020 7316 9118

fflHEWiBiteiii^

filbBl

(YI1KWI

brother

i • v v *t I

EPSON
LEXMARK

RICOH

i'.i-hll;|ii-i

OR DER ON LINE NOW or Call

to find simply the BEST deals

on Quality compatible and

branded ink / toner cartridges etc.

All makes & models supported.

Also JettManx refill products.

80% of our orders are repeats or

recommendations.

Nationwide Supplies to Home.
Business & Public Sector users

FREEPHONE*
0800 19 06 07

• ••■

SPECIAL RATES for

SCHOOLS, LOCAL GOVT

& COMPANIES

Call free for Details

"We pa/ for your call NoD945 or 0870 np off here

PnntBntam group is operated by Manx Prirt Care Ltd

THE consumables specialists for 1 5 years

ClockErwerlrtfListnalParK Foxdale !M4 3HF

U KHosts. -^

www:ukhosts.com e sales@ukhosts.com 0800 5872409

lower

outstanding offers

friendly
UK based professionals
you can trust!

solutions available

fully installed

oscommerce,
ssl hosting + support
just £90+VAT

Visit www.ukhosfs.com
or call 0800 587 2409

CALL 020 7316 9118 < MICROMART

Call Now to

advertise in the

longest running

computer magazine

in the UK!

llasUonger/

/'Jtyouri,,,
laptop />C^*

fS****

156,210* technologically

savvy readers every month

Access readers who spend

£61 million* every year on

technology

Be seen in the magazine that

drives buying behaviour

Reach the influences in the

IT industry

Talk to small and medium

sized businesses

findmydata.co.uk

Lost data ?

Low Cost Data Recovery f Uo RecoV ery, No Fee

Media cards just £35.
Hard drives from €75.

/■_n

*Piease visit our website for
up-to-date prices & offers

0845 094 3655 I ^F?

Call Clare

today on

0207 316

9118

*PCW readership survey 2008

www.pcw.co.uk 1 5i

rrnrnr

WARRANTY. TRADE PRICES

\COrder Qn-Line at www.comniitt9rbargains.CQMk

MSI

NETBOOK1GB/120GB
WIRELESS XP HOME

£239 £274 85

+vat inc VAT

♦ MSI Wind U10O Netbook with Ouill in Weticarn & XPH

♦ Inlel Atom N270 1.6GHz 1GB Ram 120GB Hard Drive

♦ 10" TFT Screen with 1024 x 800 Resolution

♦ Buill in Wireless, Bluetooth &1.3 Megapixel Webcam

♦ USB Ports, Card Reader, VGA & Lan Port, Carry case

♦ Microsoft Windows XP Home & Works Software

♦ Ngwft mmnlipri with ? ypar manufacturer* warranty

GATEWAY

1GB/80GBDVDRW

15.4" WIRELESS LAPTOP

£199 £228.85

+VAT inc VAT

♦ Gateway MT6226B. Intel Celeron M520 1 BG Hz CPU

♦ 1GB DDR2 Ram, 80GB SATA Hard Drive,

♦ DVD+.RW Drive. 4 in 1 Memory Card Reader

♦ 15.4" Ultra Bright WXGA Widescreen TFT Display

♦ Modem. Lan, Wireless, USB. S- Video & Firewire Ports

♦ Microsoft Vista Home and Works 8.5 Software

♦ Gateway fa^^ry clearance/refurtjisheri 6 months wrty

1QON

15.4' WIDESCREENDVDRW

XP HOME WIFI LAPTOP

£169 £194.35

+VAT inc VAT

♦ Iqon 8050 Laptop with InleJ Celeron M360 Processor

♦ 512MB Ram {1GB add £20+Vat) 40GS Hard Drive
+ 15 4 Widescreen TFT wilh 1280x800 Resolution

+ DVD Rewnter, 3x USB Ports, Modem, Lan & Wireless

♦ Preloaded wilh Microsoft Windows XP Home Software

♦ Factory refurbished. Supplied with G months warranty.

DELL LATITUDE II w

ll'-SfllwD 1 !^'']! ri»l"'^H

1GB 40GB ULTRA PORTABLE

£199 £228.85

+VAT inc VAT

ACER

T1 80 DUAL CORE PC

2GB 250GB WITH TFT MONITOR

,£285 £32775

+VAT inc VAT

♦ Acer Aspire T1S0 Dual Care PC with TFT Monitor

♦ AMD Athlon x2 4400+ CPU. 2GB Ram. 250GB HDD

♦ DVD+/-RW drive. Card Reader, 10/100 Lan. USB Ports

♦ Includes Keyboard & Mouse. Built in Recovery Feature

♦ Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Software

+ Package includes Brand New 19" TFT Colour Monitor

♦ Factory clearance re furb stock as new wilh 1 year wrty

♦ Dell Latitude D410 Centnno Ultra Portable Laptop

♦ Intel Pentium Mobile Cenlrino 1.86GI-U Processor

♦ 1GB Ram, 40GB HDD, t2 1" 1024x768 Res SOW*- . . .

♦ PCMCIA Slot, Modem, Lart, 3x USB and V<# fifjf4

♦ UK Keyboard, Buitt in Wireless Lan, Weig.hjg^P£/tfjjf£

♦ Preloaded with Microsoft Windows Pro SofiisPWrJr 1 Jfp pp/§

£20+Val. Ex-lease 3mlh wr?

GATEWAY

GT5086B PC
DUAL CORE 2GB 500GB I

£235 £270.25 I™

+VAT inc VAT

♦ Gateway GT50fi6b Inlel Dual Core E2140 Processor

♦ 2GB DDR2 Ram, Massive 500GB Hard Drive

♦ 16x DVD+/-RW Drive. Buril in Modem and Lan

♦ 15 in 1 Memory Card Reader. 5k USB Ports

♦ Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium & Wprfcs SVW

♦ Gateway cancelled orderyrefurb stock. 1Year wananty

♦ 19" T FT Monit or add £99+ VAT (£1 1 3.85 inc VAT)

ACER

ATHLON 64X2 4400+
1GB/250GBDVDRW

£185 £212,,

+VAT me VAT

♦ Acer Aspire T180 wilh AMD Altilon x2 4400,
+ 1GB Ram. 2S0GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW
+ 9 in 1 Card Reader. 1 0il 00 Lan a USB (

♦ Microsoft Windows Visla Home Premiun
+ Factory clearance returb slock wilh 1 '

♦ Upgrade to 2GB Ram add E20+VAT (£23 i
. 17- T FT Vtor.i;nr add £B5tVAT (£97.75 inc VATS

GATEWAY

INTEL CORE 2 DUO

2GB/120GB17" LAPTOP

£299 £343.85

+VAT inc VAT

GATEWAY

Liiq<K']n=f-l>lij']l

15.4" WIRELESS LAPTOP

£259 £297.85

♦vat inc VAT

♦ Galeway MT6825B, Inlel Core 2 Duo T52S0 CPU

♦ 1GB Ram (2GB add £20+Vat), 100GB Hard Drive

♦ DVDtRW Drive, 4 in 1 Memory Card Reader

♦ 15 .4" Ultra Bright WXGA Widescreen TFT Display

♦ Built in Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 card
+ Modem. Lap. Wireless, S-Video and Firewire.

♦ MS Windows Vista Home Premium & Workr

♦ Gateway M X87 1 6 B . I ntel C ore 2 D u o T5300,
2GB DDR2 Ram, 120GB SATA Hand Drt

iVD±RW Drive, 4 in 1 Memory Card Rei

7.1" UllraBright WXGA Widescreen TF

tel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 up

Modem, Lap. Wireless. S-Video and Firew

♦ Ms Windows Vista Home Premium & Works £

«*f

!C8,

MSI

OVDRWWIFI SUBNOTEBOOK I ~

£199 £228.85

♦vat inc VAT

<Jjp

* MSI MS-1 013 wilh AMD Sempran 3200+ CPU
»1GBRam, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVDRW driven
12 1" TFT Crystal Bright Widescreen
uilt in Wireless and Bluetooth and Card Re
CMCIA, 3x USB Ports. Firewire Modem ari3 __
Microsoft Windows XP Home and Works Softwan*
"» Few oniy refubs at this price. Brand new £299 Inc Vat*

HP COM-

EVOD530 P42.oK. ,
512MB 40GB XP PRO PC

£89 £102.35

+VAT inc VAT

♦ Compaq Evo D530 SFF Mini Desktop/Tower PC

♦ Intel Pentium 4 2.66GHz CPU 512MB Ram 40GB HDC

♦ Serial and Parallel ports DVD ROM and Floppy Drive

♦ integrated Graphics. l0/10OLan plus USB ports

♦ Preloaded with Microsoft Windows XP Pro software

♦ Ex-lease stock and supplied wilh 6 months warranty.
H<ejlirdj2Oijs£j20fliion^r^^

DELL

VOSTR0 220 CORE DUO
XP PRO PC WITH 2GB RAM

£279 £320.85

+VAT Inc VAT

♦ Dell Vostro 220 PC with Windows XP PRO Software

♦ Intel Core Duo E2200 2.2GHz CPU, 2GB DDR2 Ram

♦ 150GB Hard Drivel Gx speed DVD+/-RW Drive

♦ Network adapter, fix USB Ports. Keyboard & mouse
Tosoft Windows XP Pro with Vista Business upgrade
"" '.new and boxed. Supplied with 1 year warranty

flPDFff H Mf " *^ Dn ' f ° r 3dd £99 *^ AT t£ 11 3 85 i nc VAT )

FQH NEXT MY

EMACHINE

E4220 DUAL CORE
2GB/320GB PC

£219£25it-

+VAT inc VAT

♦ eMacnine E4220 Intel D925 Dual Core 3.0GHz (

• 2GB Ram. 320GB Hard Drive. 16x DVDRW dritt

• 15 in 1 Card Reader, Modem Lan a USB Padt* »,, ■ "3

• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium ^^_ ""% BffJ

# Factory clearance slock boxed as new.1 yS *£{££& t/J 1
+ 17" TFT Monitor add EB5+VAT (£97.75 me St BgmS ~VW ■

* 19" TFT Mo nitor add £99+ VAT fEH3.es inc Vz£ e vVeFR

GATEWAY

INTEL CENTRINO
WIRELESS XPH LAPTOP

£199 £228,,

♦vat inc VAT

♦ Gateway MXSS38 Intel Centrino P-M735 1 .6GHz CPU

♦ 512MB Ram (1GB add £20+ Vat). 60GB Hard Dnve

♦ DVD±RW Drive. 4 in 1 Memory Card Reader

♦ 15.4" Ultra Bright WXGA Widescreen TFT Display

♦ Modem, Lan, Wireless, S-Video and Firewire Port

♦ Microsoft Windows Xp Home & Works Software

♦ Factory refurbished stock Supplied wilh 6 months wily

DELL LATITUDE 1 1 >

mwiji'j

£135 £1 55.25 1"

+VAT inc VAT

• Dell Latitude D40u Ultra Portable Subnolebook

* Intel Pentium Mobile Centrino 1 7GHz ProoeasoB 1

♦ 512MB Ram, 30GB HDD. 12.1" 1024x768 Res Screen

♦ PCMCIA SloL Modem, Lan, 2x USB and VGA Ports

♦ UK Keyboard. Serial Port. Bui.lt in Wireless Lan

• Preloaded wilh Microsoft Windows XP Pro Software
add^2(^^^B^iasi^^Ttorithswrly

♦ Acer Aspire 7520 AMD Athlon 64 x2 1 .8GHz CPU

♦ 2GB Ram, B0GB HDD. Dual Layer DVD Rewriter

♦ 17" Widescreen Crystal Br jte Display, nVidia Graphics

♦ Modem, Lan, Card Reader. Wireless Lan, Firewire

♦ Supplied with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

♦ Factory refuri^cancelled order stock. 1 year warranty

. CECT DUAL SIM

>DA MOBILE PHONE

CECT T6S9 Dual Sim PDA Mobile Phone. Features
includes 2 slm sockets on any network both running at
the same time. Ideal for people using 2 mobile phones
travelling abroad etc. Also features PDA functions wilh
Touchscreen. PC connectivity, Camera, MP3 & MPEG4
functions. Includes PC cable, Headphones, Charger etc,

-=-. ■d!F.U!IIM:

E4064 DUAL CORE
1GB 200GB XPH PC

£185£2f2re I

»-vat inc VAT

♦ eMachrna E4064 Intel D820 Dual Core 2.66GHz CPU

♦ 1GB Ram, 200GB Hard Drive. 16x DVDRW drive

♦ 15 in 1 Card Reader. TV Tuner (Analog), USB Ports

♦ Microsoft Windows XP Home Media Centre & Worths

♦ Factory clearance slockiref tiro stock. 1 year warranty

♦ Upgrade to 2GB Ram add E15+VAT (£17.25 inc VAT)
. 19--TFT Monitor add E89+VAT (£102.35 inc VAT)

snnnnaznznzE

CALLERS WELCOME TO OUR SHOWROOM
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY PLEASE PHONE TO
— CONFIRM AVAILABILITY OPENING TIMES I

1 STAND LANE, RADCLIFFE, MANCHESTER, M26 1NW. MON-FRI 9am-6pm SAT9am-12pm

MailOrderAICI T}1 9077 Other Enquires Call: 0845 337 3324 orvisit our jjebsiteat

sales caii: U 1 1 l £.3 £.£.£.£. Fax No: oi 61 723 2200 www.eomputerbargmns.eo.uk

Email: salesScomputsrbaroairiS. to.uk ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS. GOVERNMENT El EDUCATIONAL ORDERS ACCEPTED

Solar Power made simple

SOLAR POWER HOT
WATER SYSTEMS

v Combat unstoppable rising fuel costs.
v Just 8 hours to install.

• Maintenance free.

/ 20 years guarantee on panel.

/ Pays for itself within 3 to 5 years "OR
YOUR MONEY BACK".
'this relates to a family of two adults and two
children living a regular day to day life.

• Wind Turbines also available.

r i

incVAT and installation

www.nohotwaterbills.co.uk
01706 651 877

k i ibid

twii \y

Think Purple!

HSantluerg

Distributors in the UK:

• www.sandberg.it

Sandberg A/S • Tel +45 7026 8500

www. imeractiveid sa s.coin
www.eetuk.co.uk ■ Tel 020 8421 0101

<®.

nexetech

Buy your
Sandberg products

www. n ova lech .co.uk

www.buEinessforce.hd.uk 1

from:

QPLAY.COM

amazon.co.uk

www.play.com

www.&maion.co-ufc

PRIZE GIVEAWAY

ECdfiUUIUMU

WIN! Three AVM Fritzbox 7270 Volp router kits

This month. Personal Computer World
has teamed up with communications
specialist AVM to offer one of the
most advanced broadband routers available
for home users.

The Fritzbox Fori WLan 7270 not only works
as an ADSL router - supporting all the latest
high-speed standards - but as a complete
communications centre for your home. As well
as ail the usual broadband features you'd
expect to find, such as a firewall and access
control, it includes built-in 802.1 1n wireless
Lan, operating at up to 3O0Mbytes/sec, in
the 2.4GHz or 5CHz bands, so you can easily
avoid interference from other nearby networks.

And to help you get up and running, the
prize even includes a matching USB WLan
adapter for your PC. The Fritz WLan USB stick N
includes automatic configuration -just plug it
into your Fritzbox to retrieve the correct security
settings, and then into your PC, for completely
automatic high-security wireless setup - there's
no need for driver CDs or fiddly control panels.

On top of all that, there's sophisticated
Voice over IP (VoIP) functionality built in, with
two sockets to plug in your existing analogue
handsets, and a link to your existing phone
line for emergency calls, Or calling when the
broadband is down.

But there's far more to the Fritzbox than
that - you can use it as a home telephone
system, calling between phones, or plug it into
an ISDN line. There's even a Dect base-station
built in. which can support up to six handsets,
each of which can have their own VoIP number,
too, so everyone in your home can have their
own phone line.

There's a built-in answering machine, and
you can arrange for faxes to be turned into
emails automatically, while the USB 2.0 port
allows you to share music via UPnP, or to plug
in a printer and share it with all the computers
on your network.

We've got three of these amazing routers
to give away as first prizes, each with a Fritz
WLan USB stick N to help you make the most of
the wireless. Three runners-up will each receive

a Fritzbox Fon WLan 7170, which includes
802. 1 1g wireless, USB 1 .1 port for printer and
hard drive sharing, and a built-in VoIP PBX with
two analogue phone connections.

For more on the Fritzbox range, visit
www.fritibox.co.uk

For your chance to win, answer the question
below and enter online at www.ptw.to.uk/
torn petitions The competition opens on
22 January and closes on 20 February 2009.

How many Dect handsets can you link to the
Fritzbox 7270?

a) 4
b)8
OS

Fritzbox 7270 comes
with a WLan USB stick N

This eontperiiinn is open to readers of rCW. cxcepi tor
employees land Lhcir lamilicsl ol incisive .Media, and
AVM. ^Ov'is the sole judge nl the competition and the
Bdttort choice is linal. Oiler appiiev in residents ti \ the
UK and the Irish Republic only. Entrants must be over
the age nl 1 S and only one entry per household will be
accepicd. winners will be selected at random from all
correct entries received. .No cash aliemalive is available in
ben of prizes. Incisive Media will use all reasonable
endeavours lo notify Lite winner!*} wilhin 14 days t>( the
ciose ol the competition. Incisive Media reserves Ihc right
to substitute the prize lor one of Ktearet or equal value if
arcnntsuinces make lllis unavoidable. Prizes will be
dispaiched by ihc competition sponsonsj and the
isinner(s) name(s) and addressees) will be provided Co
the eompciiiio" sponsoris) for ibis purpose; No purchase
oi the magazine is necessary to eutet the comiicTlTion.
Incisive Media will use all reasonable efforts to ensure
llntl lite prizes arc as described on lllis page. However,
Incisive Media cannot accept any liability In respeei of
any prize, and any queries regaining a prize should be
taken up directly wilit lite sponsor of that prize.

ENTER ONLINE AT www.pcw.co.uk/competitions

'■■" www.pcw.co.uk

159

On the web

www.pcw.co.uk

PCW is not just a great monthly magazine, we also
have a website carrying daily news, reviews,
features, downloads, games, competitions
and blogs written by us and our sister titles.
The website is updated daily, to help keep you
abreast of the latest events and new products.

Compu
World

!W I nil,'. ■ "Til 1

CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE

HERE * RECEIVE **™?

LIZ

III

The Test Bed

Our labs blog, the Test Bed, gives you regular updates on

the Litest gossip, technology trends and products.

-» http://labs.pcw.io.ul< -» http://www.reportlabs.com/testtied

PCW Forums

Get involved with the PCW community of readers, get help
with your PC problems, or just join in the lively debates.
-> http://wv1rw.pcw.co.uk/forum5

PCW Interactive

You may recognise some entries in this blog from our
Letters pages, but tbey are published here first, letting
you add your views and comments.
-» http://lnteractive.pcw.co.uk

PCW Newsletters

If you want to keep up with the latest news, reviews, blogs.
Hands On and software downloads, then sign up for our
weekly PCW email newsletter. It is published every Friday
and gives you a selection of the highlights from the week.
Our Products newsletter goes out on Wednesdays and
includes the most important news stories and reviews,
-$ http: //signup.l nclslvemed la .com /newsw ires /pew

PCW RSS feeds

To help you get up-to-the-minute news and reviews
automatically, we offer several RSS feeds for you to use in
your favourite RSS reader,
-> www.pcw.co.uk/about/rss

PCW tests and reviews

Our tests and reviews are independent, with no outside
Influence from manufacturers. Vendors are not allowed to
see the results of our icsis before publication, ensuring you
can completely trust the independence of what you read.
Prices: All prices Include Vat unless otherwise stated.

EDITORIAL

Tel 020 731-5 9DDQ Fax D?D 71168313 www.pcw.to.uk

Editor Kelvyn Taylor

Associate Editor (News) [live Akass

Labs Project Managei simon tmp

MnftiSupaviiorAldn Ri<ter

Contributing Editors Nigel Whitfield. Will Staple/

Iditarial contributors Tim Anderson, lason d'Allison, Garry Fox, Guy

KEwney, Cliff Joseph, Gordon Lai no., Emil Larsen, Paul Lester, Mall

Magenni^ Ken MrMahnn, Paul Monrkton, Fini Nail, lam fcoyal,

Barry shilliday, Alan Stevens, Stephen Weill. Mark wltilelKnn

ART * PRODUCTION

Art Editor J iMtathan Ross

Group Production Editor Debbie Oliver

Production Editor Lindsay Parish-Jones

Senior Sub-Editor Hairy Burrows

sub-Editors. .v.att Andrews, ' raig Hacrit

Arid Production tonlributors Pete Kernan, Donatella
Woiitrajip, iusie Vorrrs, Eva Peaty
Photography Bruce Mackie

PUBLISHING

Group Publisher Dylan Arm bruit

Managing Director Professional Services Graham llainian

rounder Angelo fgnrelec

MARKETING & CIRCULATION

Marketing Manager Louise Newland

Group Circulation Manager Helen Kfiight

Marketing Ixeculive ftahila Ehsan

Circulation Marketing Executive V;nri;iiilli,i Nas^'f

New Media Manager (ED/MO) elm Wiles

ADVERTISING

Sales Manager Paul Harvey 020 7316 93Q8

Major Client Managers Eauda Gowiely 07D /Sit 9?03,

Hatafie forces OtiuttT^ltJ

Client Manager Maiia Iheochariuei-Andiecfu 070 7316 92?}

Classilied Sales Mar&a Hfeolliaiides-Aiidreou 020 7316 9223

Sales Executives Clare Benson 020 7316 9] 1E r

Kirtiaid .wann o;o /.ti6 9704

sales Consultant Stephanie Qurit 020 7314 9723

European/Asian/Middle East Representation

Global Media Europe Ltd, 32-3-4 Broadwkk street, twwton,

W1A ZKG. Tel 020 7316 9264 www.globalKfK.com

Taiwan Sale* Representatives liarisacliorimedia Ltd,
11th H001 Mt> 1 sec 2 rjunhua s e<j, Taipei 1D6 roc Taiwan

W S8& 2 ft772 S14L Contacts: Nilinjoshi, Lilly Mao

CENTRAL PRODUCTION

Senior Production Manager Lathy iVHthofipy

digital production- Manager Rebecca TegPist
Production Controller Scoll Day

To email any PCW staff member, use ihe full owing:
forename. surname:^. incisiv^med ia.com. substituting the
person's name a^ it appears on this page

Printed and bound by si ives (Roche) Ltd

Distributed by luiarteiloKt (UK) Lid, The Blue Fin Building,

110 Sciirlhwdrk SLieet, Loudon SE1 OSU

An jV incisivem^^publication

Jan-De: 2007

£V recycle

CUSTOMER SERVICES

Engmriei 01 coin plain Is regaiding any advertiser in this
maganne should be put in writing to us a1 32 Broadwick Sttect,
London, W1A 7HG

The opinions expressed and resulls published in connection
with reviews and laboratory test leports earned out on
computing systems and/or other related items are confined lo,
and are lepresentative of. only those goods as supplied and
should nol be tonslmed as a recommend a I ion i-i purchase.

PCW cannot give technical help/support ^ervicei, either
wntten or verbal

REPRINTS a EXTRACTS

We offer a lull leprint service foi reproduction of all or pari of
previous articles. Contact Wright's fteprmts: «-t 377 6S2 &29S
(international roll-fret:) Imaih pcwin'wrighlsreprints.com

We aie happy for people to use quotations and segments Tor
internal or promotional purposes No mateiial may be
reproduced in whole or in part withoul written consent from
the ccipyiighi holder ';: ;aas> incisive Media

LICENSING

Personal tomputer World is available loc international

licensing Please conlacl Joanna Mitthell at

joai 1 11 a. mil; hell 'iiicisivemedia.com loi more information.

FOR BACK ISSUE AND COVER DISC OROERS

Tel Q185& -438S83 Email pcw-f'SUbsciipLion.CQ.irt
Personal Computer World, Tower House, sovereign Paik,
Market Haiboiounh, leicesleishire iriA 9H

Etack issues/cover discs

Back issue (CD version) f 3.99 plus 99p P&P loi addresses iu
ihe UK; E2io P6P loi overseas addresses including tlie

kepubfcc ol heland. Back issue (DVD veismn} E-1.99 plus 99p
P&P foi addresses in Ihe UK; L2.50 P&P loi overseas addresses

rnclud ing the ficpa blrc of rrelend

loi faully 01 damaged CDs pieiise rng 02D 7316 9706
between lOarn and 6pm, Monday lo Friday. Email:
di^"j.upp«iri 'pcwuippost.fo.i*:, minting the issue dale.

Website: www.pcw.co.uk/ojsc-support
DISCLAIMERS

itaCpii i\e lE-vnirirled ihui Lhp ojwiinr^ eapi? Wed, anA Lht rpvjilb
fiiitlibfiPu in (QiiriHlkiii With iFVJEWi i?rd/M IfltiMflfjnrv teM rpparl^
earned crnion tomputing systems and/01 relaied items, are ccmTned
lo, a^d are itpre^nlalivt ol. Drily those goods as uipplN and sfuiiU
PH h« ffifibliued H -t Ec:!K[i:iiE-|iivlBH 10 |>urifMS«. WhilM ewry
pre-[a.jL an s l^kpr. la einiiip Ihal rchabliiiy iiftd \\aa6 bmlnru
practices pieva;!, the Ftiblishei tarnot te \k\<\ lesponsiUe toi the
overall trading hIiviiks ol arry sjppl«r relerrnj 1a oradvertishig

Wiltliri, tAib •;■:;■ 1 ■!

10 tips for buying safely

5
10

Get written quotes from shops specifying components used, or print off and keep spec sheets Irom websites.

Use 8 credit card if possible for purchases of £100 or more; you could gel compensaliori from the card company

if s supplier goes out ol business.

Keep good records, storing receipts, correspondence in one place.

In tnglarid and Wales, the onus is an retailers to prove that laults found within six months on purchases

are not inherent.

Goods ordered online, by phone or post can he returned under the Distance Selling Regulations without

explanation within a reasonable time this is widely accepted as being seven days.

Open and inspect all goods as soon as possible alter delivery and make sure they work.

Companies are not obliged to repair or replace goods damaged by accident or misuse, unless it is caused in

transit by a delivery service.

Companies ran not charge for a service that isn't being delivered, but never stop a direct debit while

iincler contract.

Consumers should not suffer financial loss lor repairs that are not their laull, so claim back carriage charges.

If a dispute arises, take advice from Consumer Direct at www.consumerdirett.gov.uk.

160

www.pcw.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS < COMING NEXT MONTH

"""»

,:■■■■ ■

tfCiij ■■
■HWNtnKMtm

1 ■• PROGRAMS

i : X wi\

--><

- L ~-j

SUBSCRIPTION
ENQUIRIES

Benefits of subscribing

• Save money on the cover price

• Special subscriber discounts on selected
PCW Reader Offer products
www.direct-pcw.co.uk

• Receive your issue before the
on -sale date

• Money-back guarantee - if you're not
100% satisfied with your subscription,
we will refund Ihe cost of any unmailed
issues - no questions asked

Online via our secure website:
www.subscription.co.uk/help/vnu

Email vnu@subscription.co.uk

Tel 01858 438870
(Weekdays 8am - 9JGpm ;
Saturdays Sam - 4pm)

Post Personal Computer World, Tower House,
Sovereign Park, Market Harborough,
Leicestershire LE16 9EF

Manage your subscription online

Just visit www.subscription.co.uk/help/vnu
lor instant access to your subscription
account. Use the above email address to
check your current subscription - see how
many issues you have left, or find out our
publication dates.

READERS AND
SUBSCRIBERS

^Personal.

Computer

World

NEXT MONTH

ON SALE 19 FEBRUARY 2009

Office in the clouds

With small laptops, fast mobile internet
and better browsers, is the time finally
right for online applications? We put the
best online office suites to the test, and
find out if they really are a practical
alternative to running software on your
own PC.

Ultimate PC cases

For overclockers, serious gamers, or just
the discerning DIY system builder, a
good-quality PC case is essential - and all
to often overlooked. We've looked at some
of the latest and greatest models to find
out which is the best for building your
perfect PC.

Free movie editing

Windows Movie Maker is free with many
versions of Windows, but surely it's just a
basic tool for novices who don't need to
make complicated edits? Wrong. As we'll
show you, with a few tweaks and add-ons
it's capable of some pretty impressive video
editing tricks.

Browser wars

There used to be a choice of only a couple
of web browsers, but now there are at
least half a dozen in regular use, including
Google's interesting new Chrome. But what
are the differences between them? Read
next month's feature to find out and why
might you want to change from the one
you're using.

sMSiM^

vi There's lots more in April's PCW
^ DON'T MISS IT...

1 www.pcw.co.uk

161

FLASHBACK

MARCH 2004

From the archives: Take a look at the important
events in technology five, 15 and 25 years ago.

Our review of 10 'ultraportable'
notebooks shows how much
standards have changed in the
past five years. Some weighed
upwards of 1.2kg. Even more
significantly, none cost less than
£1,000 and many were closer to
£2,000. It was never quite clear
why small notebooks cost more
than large ones but you can see
why the cheap and light Asus
Eee PC, for all its flaws, caused
such a sensation when it was
launched four years later.

We announced the passing of
Pagemaker, the first professional
desktop-publishing program.
Launched by Aldus in 1985 for
the Mac, it was a success until it
was outperformed by Quark.
Adobe bought Aldus in 1994
and killed off Pagemaker to
make way for Indesign.

4? PIASONAL Unux " ne " JP A

COMPUTER

WORLD

RING CLEAN!

fagjy Rejuvenate your PC step by step

UVKTtSTED!

UHraportable
notebooks

Reviewed

■> HI In a •■ Ha S|*rs CjplnUn Nti ' itmt«i
Unb m S ■• Mil Sptimmkj !M4

rlihi

mSITSTEl!

Budget colour

laser printers

wttmm 1

fsnl iuC 4 1 HC*i
HH I r« i- »■

DinirwsiETiwin SWITCHES

EianniNGYDU NEED TO KNOW

nMtP4

Igftylf Turn!

iiiiii mil

Colour laser printers were still
far more expensive than inkjets
but prices were hitting levels
small offices could afford. We
tested machines costing
between £450 and £859. and
warned that the cost of
consumables could not be
ignored - the familiar caveat for
anyone buying a printer. Kontca
Minolta's Magicolour 2300W
got our Editor's Choice for its
low-cost quality.

Digital SLR prices were still high
so that a model costing less than
£1,000 was cause for comment.
Our reviewer Ken McMahon
remarked that the Canon EOS
300D, costing £830 with an
18-55mm (35mm equivalent)
zoom, was what amateur
photographers had been watting
for. It got a rare five-star award.

MARCH 1984

The first Apple Mac featured in our March 1984 covei
Wc were impressed with its processing power but felt
that the interface and its associated icons were far too
'whimsical'. But we also predicted that Apple was one
of the few companies with a chance of taking on the
IBM PC/Microsoft platform and winning.

The PC was still using the text-based MS- Dos
operating system and would not go graphical
successfully for some years. The delay was quite

sensible as processors were not yet
fast enough to support a GUI.

Guy Kewney in our Newsprint
section was unimpressed by the
Consumer Electronics Show in Las
Vegas. Vendors had little of interest
to showcase and tried to outdo
their competitors with loud music
and bizarre gadgets of little use.

Finally we took a look at some
of the latest football prediction
applications aimed at people doing
the pools. We realised the
technology had a long way to go
when one product predicted that a
result would be either a draw, a
home win or an away win.

MARCH 1994

Doom doomed the usually diligent PCW staff to
wasting their time trying to kill each other - though
happily only in the virtual world. Our Chip Chat
column reported that the game was also responsible
for bringing down a rival magazine's server. And this
was just the start of the Doom phenomenon.

Wc looked at Sigma Delta's Rcelmagic MPEG
decoder card (a bargain at £395) and predicted the
impact the format would have on PCs. MPEG had the
effect of letting games developers
make pap like Dragon's Layer Play
Doom, we recommended.

We took a look at crime, still in
the amateur phase when hackers
could be described as 'pale
individuals aged between 17 and
25' and compared to 'the
Dungeons and Dragons freak'.
Sadly today's hacking mafias could
do with being thrown to the
dungeons and dragons.

We showcased the room-sized
Indigo E-print and asked: "Is this
the form the printer of the future
will take?" Er, no, actually... Even
PCW gets things wrong.

162

www.pcw.co.uk

Are you stuck on the grid with sluggish PC startup times, and low powered web surfing? Are
you getting Internet rage as yet another web page stalls half way through loading? Our pit
lane team is here to chip your ECU, pimp your ride, and add nitrous to your mix.

SpeedUpMyPC is your personal computer wizard helping you release the power of your
system. Settings, Internet usage, memory and CPU are all scanned, cleaned and optimised for
improved performance and privacy.

Download your free performance scan:

http://speed.uniblue.com

Umblue

www.uniblue.com

Microsoft

GOLD CERTIFIED

World Class web hosting
from the UK's No.1

HOME

"EE £10 ,

.com worth £8,89
£100 Ad vouchers

■ UPGRADED 2 GB UK web space

■ UPGRADED Over 500 mailboxes

■ UPGRADED MySQL / ASP.NET 2.0

■ Easy website builder

■ Graphical website statistics

£4.99,

DEVELOPER

rprr .com worth £8.8
•Pitt £iooAdvouche

■ UPGRADED 5GB U K web space

■ UPGRADED Over 1000 mailboxes

■ UPGRADED 5 MySQL / MS SQL

■ Graphical website statistics
■ASP.NET 2.0 with AJAX

■ ASP, PHP5 & Perl CGI scripting

■ SSL secure web space

£8.99

BUSINESS

rprr .com worth £8.89
l-Ktt £ T oo Ad vouchers

• UPGRADED UNLIMITED UK web space

■ UPGRADED 25 Advanced mailboxes

■ UPGRADED 1 MySQL / 2 MS SQL

• Microsoft Exchange email

• Unlimited Standard mailboxes

• SSL secure web space

• Graphical website statistics

• Load balanced web servers

- Powerful search engine tools

£15.99,

Get your website online today

fasthosts.co.uk/hosting

08708883424

I'jdtrVAT. Fr?*.crjii[l[«^.iiri,v.MiL!W^wiliriwv , ^ift , tiliiy.1iric]pNrr'li;" c if»ionry.

World Class Web Hosting

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Personal Computer World (2009-03)(VNU Business Publications)(GB)"

See other formats